I was watching closely the protests by the Tamil Nadu farmers at Delhi recently and was intrigued by why income tax is not levied on farmers. I understand that some of the poorer farmers cannot afford to pay income tax but can’t the government set some limit,say, income from farming above 15 lakhs per annum (which is a very reasonable lower limit compared to the rest of the population) is taxable. It seems very unfair that some rich farmers take advantage of the loan waivers and get the benefits from the tax payers’ money.

It is high time that we stop being emotional about farming and farmers and consider them as ordinary citizens who have a responsibility to contribute to the development of the country like people from other professions.