Aamir & Amitabh are Farmers, or not ??

Ok, so now Aamir Khan is also part of the controversy on who is a "Farmer". First it was Amitabh Bachchan....

By the way, just WHO is a "FARMER"???? Where is FARMER defined ??

Certainly NOT in the Constitution of India ... !!

Surprised? Yup, the word "farmer" is not defined by our Constitution. Article 366, which deals with "Definitions" defines "Agricultural Income" but "Farmer" is not defined.

Which means, this is now open to interpretation by all and sundry - unless the High Court and/or Supreme Court have laid down some definitions (I'm not a lawyer, so I wouldn't know..)

However, here's an interesting Case study ...

When we got Independence, there were a number of landlords (Zamindars) who owned Agricultural land. Most of these had hired help ... (bonded?) labourers ... to till the land for them. In one stroke, the Government abolished the Zamindari system and made the actual tillers, owners of the land - and compensated the Zamindars (with Bonds, I think).

Thereafter, one such labourer now became the owner and then in turn, also hired some additional help. Over time, the labourer-owner became old and his children (who were educated, as he could afford to educate them) didn't want to do farm-activities any more. They moved to the city and took up other career options.

Eventually the old man passes away bequeathing his (legally-owned) farm land, to his children.

Stop the press...

Questions:
- Are the children "Farmers" ?????
- Do they need a "Certificate" to prove that they are "Farmers" ?????
- Does Amitabh need a Certificate ? If yes, WHO is the Competent Authority to issue such a Certificate?
- Does Aamir need anything more than the fact that his father owns/owned Agricultural land???
- What is the status of our Politicians?

It seems the thumb rule being applied everywhere is that "if you owned farm land at any place in India.. you ARE a Farmer" ...

By this logic, we need to open the Pandora's Box and examine each and every Politician (and Administrative Officer) who has declared that they "own" farm land.

For those who were born much later (your's truly, included), India was a predominantly Agricultural country when we got Independence... so most of our fore-fathers, were "Farmers" anyway ...

I think this is political vendetta .. especially, in Amitabh's case. His obvious proximity to the (loud-mouth) Amar Singh and Jaya's obvious show of Respect (?) to Mulayam Singh (those who saw Koffee-with-Karan will know) has done him in.

Unfortunately, the politicians themselves and the IAS officers and other Babus involved have gotten away ... FIRs should be filed against these guys first, before anyone does that to Amitabh ... and the less said about Aamir's case, the better ...

Let all the Ministers who have made statements against these two, first prove that THEY are also "Farmers" - IF they own any "agricultural land" ... let them also "prove" how is it that they are being called Farmers ... when they themselves hardly ever till their land, nowadays ..

Well ... and that's how I feel ...