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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

30 Nov

Since the time of these agri reforms, it has become convenient to blame Adhatia/middlemen/commission agents for every ill of farming.
NOTHING CAN BE FURTHER FROM TRUTH.
Middlemen exist because they serve a purpose. It deep rural communities, they are a single point source of 1/n

loans and advances, guidance and help. Yes, there are people who may exploit, but that doesn't make the entire system malafide. Where does a poor farmer get advance in emergency? The adhatia who knows him, his farm, his crop and his credit reliability.
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The adhatias also are the farm produce aggregators, much like Amazon/Bookings etc. Large buyers place their order with adhatias. They are ones who buy from small farmers, sort pack and make it acceptable quantity for the buyer. How would you imagine a 2.5 acre farmer trying 3/n

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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

30 Nov

If all subsidies and govt support to farmers is removed, agriculture in India will crash in less than one crop season.
It is an artificially sustained system to help 80% people to sustain their work.
Can any country whose 80% people survive on artificial income progress?

We have the lowest land holding per family than most agri nations and it is dwindling with every generation. We have poor yields and mechanisation. Poor crop diversity. Non existent demand intelligence, meagre cold chains.
And agriculture in India is not yet deemed an industry.

But this artificially sustained sytem accounts for 80% votes in most elections, so no govt wishes to touch it.
Time to take stock and dismantle an artificial, rotten system. Agriculture needs to completely reboot.
But it wont because of political considerations.

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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

22 Nov

Let me share this interesting story I heard last night. Tucked around a bonfire on a hill top forest guest house, our Forest Personnel host shared this little episode. The backwaters that you see here, dry up at a lot of places to no more than 3-5 feet depth. 1/n

Most shoreline is Tribal villages where no change can happen. Folks are poor and rear cattle. Across the waters is the Satpura National Park with a healthy tiger population. Even yesterday, there was news of 2 ox attacked by tiger. So here is how the story goes.
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In summers, some cattle cross over and get into the reserves of the tiger. Now the poor owner cant afford to lose his cattle.
There is this young tribal boy, who is an expert of finding lost cattle. His skill is informally acknowledged by the Forest Dept too. The cattle owner
3/n

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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

17 Aug

A legend that walked the earth passes away.
Not sure how many of you had the opportunity of interacting with the man behind the maestro.
35 yrs back I had a brief but indelible exchange with him.
It was mid 80s. A music appreciation group had invited Panditji to Bhopal.
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It was a small gathering of people who profess to appreciate classical music at Bhopal’s Ravindra Natya Grih. Half actually did, the other half thought it fashionable to attend the concert.
A friend from the organisers persuaded me to design an exhibition on Panditji’s life.
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With zero wherewithal and no budget I set about doing it and could make it reasonably presentable.
When Panditji reached the venue, he was pleasantly surprised.
I was introduced to him and he was full of praises.
I took it as a generous elder encouraging a young man.
3/n

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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

19 Jun

More thoughts on China:
In last 30 years, China has pumped enormous money in buying, cultivating and using media support. It worked from 90s to 2015s.
Then, to their utter surprise, the world changed. Social Media democratised opinions and information.
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The assets suddenly became ineffective. They could not control a democratised SM.
So in the last few years they have been hiring an army of bots.
The trouble with bots is they cannot engage. They cannot argue. They can only cut paste pre determined views and amplify them
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If you notice today, their completely rattled state mouth pieces are belting out laughably preachy sermons.
This is their natural weakness in the information age.
No understanding of SM, local language/english barriers.
What China fears most and betrays its weakness..
3/n

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Nisheeth Sharan

@nisheethsharan

17 Jun

Let me tell you 2 anecdotes about China. While Indians might have harboured confusion about their relationship with China, China has been clear about their POV.
They consider India an adversary to be weakened, broken and subjugated in every way.
And they have been at it 1/n

for years now. Let military men talk about military things. As a businessman, let me talk about business.
Back in 2008/09, I had to procure a particularly large quantity of flooring from China for a hotel project.
Indian manufacturers had scant range, Europeans was far too
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expensive. It made sense to explore China. So I spent a considerable time exploring the best that China had to offer.
The best of what I liked fell in the vitrified range, which had very attractive pricing but attracted an Anti Dumping Duty in India. Option was to settle for
3/n

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