No one can definitively say what 2019 will bring but as we bid goodbye to 2018, some things are clear. The debate about whether politics will trump development is becoming redundant. Development is political and has always been so. Politics will continue to be permeated with high-decibel talk about development. And both politics and development will be buzzing with pro-poor promises. But will the “poor”, or anyone else for that matter, still be satisfied with promises alone?  Many of us wish that India move beyond spats about temples and mosques, hatred and violence in the name of religion and caste. Instead, India should focus on removing poverty, providing health, education and safety and protecting the environment.

Today, religion and mythology make up the main course on the high table of political discourse. While India is shining for some people, millions of Indians are struggling to survive. Agrarian distress is very real and is not going away anytime soon. Farmers will be at the centre stage in the coming year no matter how much effort is put in to divert attention from their woes. A heated discourse has started around loan waivers, the politics and the economics surrounding it. While loan waivers are temporary palliatives, farmers themselves do not say it is the only thing they want. For farmers, their main concern is getting a fair price for their produce.  Sadly, it is not just sections of the political class, many urban middle class Indians continue to be apathetic to the woes of farmers. Many see farmers’ rallies solely through the lens of traffic snarls and inconvenience to themselves.

But agrarian distress does not stay confined to villages. Farmers in acute distress move to cities in search of a livelihood when farm incomes can’t sustain them. What is promised is less and less of an issue. What is delivered and to whom and how quickly is what matters. Then we have the young generation who are desperate and distraught. Waiting for the ever-elusive job.