Ever since once supposed India against corruption movement was hijacked by a future political party in making, I do not trust the motive behind most protests happened or happening in India. I had fallen for it once, and I am not gonna repeat the mistake. On the surface, it would appear as a genuine instrument and orchestrate by aggrieved parties. Still, sooner or later it would get hijacked by elements with their interest to blackmail the decisions of the democratically elected government, that too in consultation with constitutional artefacts.

I would not have penned it better than a fellow blogger Anant who is spot on with the current discussion and more… Please read through his complete article in his blog.

Starting with the agriculture income. As per section 10(1) of Income Tax Act 1961, agriculture income is exempt from tax. As per the section 2(1A), any income generated from farmhouses, or any rent or revenue derived from land which is situated in India and is used for agricultural purposes is counted as agriculture income. As an example, if I have 25 acres of land available and I rent it to a farmer at INR 50,000 (average market rent in Punjab) per acre to him, the total 12.5 lacs that I receive as total rent would be tax free. However, if I would have rented it for something else (other than for farming) I would have paid INR 2,00,000 as tax on the exact same income. So, it is quite possible that my knowledge about agriculture says that potato is a fruit and grows on a tree but I will still be counted as a “farmer” because I make agriculture income by renting the property to farmers. That’s why India has more than 55% of the population involved in agricultural and yet agriculture contributes to just 15% of the GDP. Point to be noted here is that I am not even talking about money laundering in the name of agriculture income. You must have heard some politician growing cauliflower in pots on the terrace and making millions out of that. Every other politician is a farmer these days. Some day I will write a separate article, how, people are washing money from black to white using agriculture income. But for now it also gives a hint as to who might be protesting and why. First thing first, define a farmer!

Here is why I support the farmers protest!!!