India-Pakistan Legislators and Public Officials Dialogue on Sharing of Experiences on Governance and Democracy

1. The second meet of the Third Round

   of Pakistan-India Legislators and Public Officials Dialogue on Sharing of

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   Experiences on Governance and Democracy was held at the Centre

   for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) in Chandigarh,

   India, on March 10, 2016 to share experiences and perceptions

   on Effective Agriculture Practices and Policies.

2. The Dialogue brought together Members of

   Parliament and State/Provincial Legislatures from Pakistan and India, practitioners

   and subject-experts from the two countries who raised key issues and reform

   ideas covering the theme of promotion of agriculture.

3. Participants acknowledged and appreciated

   the cooperation, facilitation and co-hosting of the Dialogue in Chandigarh

   by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID)

   alongside PILDAT. Special thanks in this regard were also offered

   by the delegates for Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, MP, for facilitating

   this cooperation between CRRID and PILDAT and in his leadership and facilitation

   of the Dialogue.

4. The dialogue participants on both sides

   agreed that in Agriculture, as in other areas, there is an enormous potential

   to learn from good practices and policies in both countries for each other.

   They demanded that barriers to communication and travel must be brought

   down in this regard.

5. Participants from Pakistan noted with interest

   some of the key initiatives implemented in the Indian Punjab for promotion

   of improved agricultural practices. These included low-interest agricultural

   loans set at 8% interest with subvention of 4%; provision of duty free tractors

   to farmers and loans for tubewells; water conservation by imposing restriction

   on plantation of rice before June 10 each year and time-limits of 15-days

   for Government functionaries to take decisions on agricultural loans, etc.,

   which resulted in thousands of loans for tubewells.

6. Both sides acknowledged that agriculture

   remained a major area of potential cooperation for both India and Pakistan.

   Most challenges faced by the agricultural sectors in both the countries

   are similar. These included groundwater depletion; deteriorating quality

   of groundwater and soil degradation and air pollution due to excessive use

   of insecticides and pesticides; stagnation in cropping yields and last,

   but not the least, adverse impacts of climate change. It was also recognized

   that apart from these challenges, there is a critical need to improve the

   marketing of farming products.

7. Participants stressed that Governments may

   consider cooperating to address these challenges to avoid the threat of

   food security, high number of suicides of farmers with low-holdings and

   an adverse impact on the economy.

8. Apart from these shared challenges, there

   are also challenges peculiar to each country. For Pakistan, these include

   low per acre yield; inefficient use of irrigation water; infrastructural

   deficiencies; deficient agricultural research; high input costs; absentee

   farmers; lack of robust and consistent price supporting mechanisms; and

   low crop intensity.

9. Some of the challenges peculiar to the Indian

   agricultural sector include lack of focus on horticulture, floriculture

   and livestock and subsidiary occupations like bee keeping, sericulture and

   pisciculture.

10. It was recognized that both the countries

    have various areas for cooperation in the field of agriculture. These included

    sharing of research and development such as in seed quality; optimum irrigation

    practices; facing climate change; efficient agro-processing; recharging

    of groundwater; development of drought resistant crops; exploration of the

    horticulture, floriculture, livestock, fisheries, and organic farming sectors;

    use of technology and progressive agricultural practices.

11. Participants proposed that there is a need

    to create a single market for agricultural produce, especially for perishable

    goods, to balance shortages and surpluses in both the countries.

12. It was proposed that Joint Research Centres

    should be established on the India-Pakistan border, spanning over 100 acres

    on each side to begin with, where researchers and students of agriculture

    universities and experts can carry out joint research on seeds, crops, and

    combating crop-related diseases.

13. Participants from India, highlighting their

    experiences, shared that free electricity for farmers, or even electricity

    at flat rates, is, in the long run, harmful for the agriculture sector.

    Pakistan may consider keeping this in view in case it wishes to subsidise

    the electricity for the farmers, which the Indian scientists believe has

    been responsible for fast lowering water table in Indian Punjab.

14. Participants also believed that there is

    a need to promote regular exchanges between students and experts on agriculture,

    so that the practitioners on both sides remain apprised of good practices.

15. The visa policy where India-Pakistan citizens

    over 65 years of age were granted visa at the border should be implemented

    in letter and spirit.

16. To consider promoting exchange of farmers’

    delegation and facilitate participation of industrialists and farmers in

    agriculture fairs (Kissan Melas) on both sides of the border.

17. The small farmers and the landless peasants’

    problems cannot be solved in the farm sector alone. They need to be provided

    with off-farm gainful employment opportunities to supplement their income.

18. In addition, participants also underscored

    an urgent need across the SAARC countries to strengthen the third tier of

    democracy, i.e., Elected Local Governments. Both sides agreed that

    both India and Pakistan must share good practices in this regard, adding,

    at a later stage, lessons and experiences from other SAARC countries. Both

    PILDAT and CRRID agreed to cooperate further in this regard.

The Pakistani Delegation, joining the Dialogue

Pakistan.

With Dr. Rashpal Malhotra,

of Economics, Centre for Economic Change, Punjabi University, Patiala.