of equipment like tractors, diesel engines, electric motors and pumps etc. enabled manufacturers to increase their sale. Only a tiny percentage of farmers, mostly those with political clout, benefitted. All the money given by the government as aid was also misused. It was the observation of Rajiv Gandhi when he was the Prime Minister that out of every one rupee spent by the government as aid, only fifteen paise went to the real needy, while 85 paise were siphoned off by the system itself. Most of the development budget was eaten up by the salary of government employees. Joshi believed that any scheme of giving subsidy to people is basically an opportunity for the bureaucracy to make money! To explain the attitude of bureaucracy he had given one example at Ambajogai camp from his own experience. He had said, ‘The Maharashtra Marketing Federation had promised to purchase Jowar at the rate of Rs. 132 per quintal and many farmers had brought their crop to the Market. But in reality the Federation officials never turned up. The farmers had to sell their crop at the rate of mere Rs. 65 to 75 a quintal in what could be called a distress sale. That time I had gone to Bombay to meet an officer of the Federation. While I was sitting in front of him, he was telephoning various big shots to invite them for a luncheon they had organized at a five star hotel, “to discuss the issue of Jowar purchase!” Here the farmer is stuck in the Market and selling his Jowar desperately for as low as Rs. 65 a quintal and here are those officers, entrusted with the purchase of Jowar, discussing that topic in the royal comfort of a five star hotel! We can understand their attitude from this.’ Joshi maintained that all systems in this country were giving special treatment to the urban area at the cost of rural area. All newspapers were focused on cities and cared little for rural India. If there was no power in a city or four trains got cancelled When White Gold Turned Red
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