Senthil,
 
I agree with you totally.
 
Usually the landlord farmers themselves used to work alongwith the workers of the lower Castes at times and get the best out of the land by using Cowdung, ash and green leaves manure replenishing the land every year. Moreover intercropping of the pady lands with lentils or similar crops increased the nitrogen fixation in the soil increasing the fertility of the soil without toxicity.
 
There was a harmonious relationship among all of them, the landlord parting wir 50% of the harvest with the workers and his helpers..etc. to keep them away from hunger until next season. Also the workers were presented with new set of clothes during festivals and workers used to bring their produce of vegetables and fruits as present.
 
In forest areas honey was an added attraction.
 
What has damaged the agricultural outputs of the skills of the families of
Potters, Babbers, Carpenters, blacksmiths, dhobi-s, cobblers and tanners..etc., is the reservation system promising Govt. jobs for them leading to the younger generation abandoning acquiring the traditional skills of their parents and enjoying freeships from the first day in the school until they graduate and then jobs even if they do not pass the exams.
 
Now that over 65% of the Govt. jobs have been filled by the SC/ST/OBC-s these communities are neither skilled in their vocational trades nor educated enough to get jobs in private sector with merit.
 
With high breed seeds and intensive cultivation toxifying the plants and land with fertilisers and pesticides, most of the pollinating insects like butterflies have disappeared alongwith most of the birds poisoned by pesticide coated seeds and the agricultural output has fallen drastically.
 
Added to this the militant trade unionism and land for the tiller policies esp. in Kerala reduced the paddy out put by over 50% from 1950- levels esp. in Kerala and TN still has not been affected by the violent workers. You might have seen how the cadres attacked the harvesting machine operators from Tamilnadu as the Party was not paid its dues and tens of thousands of acres of ready to harvest paddy was lost in untimely rains in rice deficit Kerala.
 
These are all manmade tragedies. The human touch and harmony of yesteryears have gone. Workers attack and kill landlords and voice versa encouraged by political wranglings!!
 
Where is the Country headed to after our generation? GM foods and fast foods?

S kumar