Political Diary
New Delhi, 15 December
2020
Farmers Mann Ki Baat
SAGACITY
MUST PREVAIL
By Poonam
I Kaushish
Golgappas, chat, sarsoan saag, jalebis, besan
barfi, badam, kaju and fruits topped by foot massages. A wedding
celebration? No this is a caravan of thousands of tractors, trucks and trolleys converted
into spacious rooms with warm beddings, everyone ready to survive the chill of
winter out in the open which have encircled the Union Capital at the Singhu,
Tikri, Chilla etc borders armed with
slogans and obdurate intent for over two weeks.
Under normal circumstances, it would be just
another segment of protest — no shortage in the country as no day passes without a strike somewhere. Be
it a mohalla, district or State. But
this windstorm of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and UP are dissenting against
the three farm laws passed by the Government in September thereby taking the Government
head-on
The script is stuck between the Sarkar’s offer
and the farmers demand for repeal of the contentious laws. Both operating
across a wide chasm of belief and trust. The protesting farmers are apprehensive that they
will no longer get paid the Minimum Support Price, Government will scrap mandis, commission
agents will not get their commission thereby
leaving them at the mercy of big corporates and
States tax.
Pertinently, many farmers see
the MSP as a vital safety net and fear they will be unable to compete with
large farms and would be paid low prices by big corporations. Asserted a kisan, “The laws will harm us and in
turn destroy our livelihood. Our land, cattle and we will be enslaved by rich
people. This Government wants to finish us.”
Some agriculture experts say the three laws
violate the federal character of the Constitution as agriculture is under the
purview of the State List and the Centre has no jurisdiction to rule over
agriculture even under the Concurrent List.
However, the Government has repeatedly
assured them that MSP will not be scrapped but with
no legal guarantee for all produce, will
implement amendments, but not repeal farm laws and is prepared to hold further
negotiations to resolve impasse. Government sources aver these reforms
would double
farmers incomes by 2022.
Yet, even as many kisan
feel there are many things which are outdated in the agriculture sector, but reforms
should not be pushed like this. Said a kisan leader, “Our
public stand is a full repeal, but we can negotiate provided the Government is
ready to provide remunerative MSP as a legal entitlement to all farmers for all
produce.”
Think. For the past
few decades, farm incomes have remained largely stagnant and the sector is in
sore need of investment and modernization as it provides
a livelihood to nearly 70% of the country's 1.3 billion people and accounts for
around 15% of the $2.7-trillion economy. Despite a steady attrition in
the numbers engaged in agriculture over the years, it remains a formidable
employer, accounting for nearly 42% of the total workforce and contributing to
15.96% of the GDP (2019).
The country has over 16.6
million farmers and 131,000 traders registered on the Government’s platform until May 2020. Over 1,000 mandis are already linked to e-NAM and
22,000 additional mandis are expected
to be linked by 2021-22.
Interestingly, not many are
aware that most of the agitating farmers are from Punjab and Haryana as they
are the biggest beneficiaries of the MSP.
In Punjab the gross irrigated area is 7.442
million hectare and the percentage of net irrigated sown area is 96.17%. The
total number of land holdings are 10.93 lakh out of which 2.04 lakh (18.7%) are
marginal farmers, 1.83 lakh (16.7%) small farmers and 7.06 lakh (64.6%) farmers
hold land above 2 hectare . Leading to public investment in kheti-baari steadily falling.
At one level the farmers’
protest looks less political and more about subsistence given the sustained
agrarian crisis. It emerges from the basic need for food that concerns all. Over 65% of the population lives and works in
agriculture, or activities thereof. But, over the last 25 years the share of
farming in the economy has shrunk from over 33% to 15%. Leading to public
investment in kheti-baari steadily
falling.
Appallingly in the
last twenty years alone over 346,538 farmers committed suicide, an average of
16,500 casualties annually or 45 deaths every day according to the National
Crime Records Bureau. However, agricultural experts aver the actual number of
suicides is treble of this. In Punjab, the country’s food bowl in 11 districts
till three years ago almost 6,926 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide.
Further, the farm
sector is crippled by high indebtedness.
While the all-India aggregate rests at 51.9%, Andhra Pradesh has the
highest share of indebted agricultural households 92.9% followed by Southern
brethrens Telengana 89.1, Tamil Nadu 82.5, Kerala and Karnataka at 77.7% and
77.3%. Shockingly, Rajasthan is next with 61.8% and Punjab at 53.2%.
This is not all.
Since about 6% of the population is still dependent on rain, groundwater
continues to be lifted indiscriminately. Resulting in a sharp drop of 3 to 5 %
every year in the water tables (from 20-30 ft to 300-400 ft). In some areas all
the three levels of soil stand exhausted. Add to this, no plans are in the
pipeline to decongest highly populated areas, which result in too many
tubewells and a lowering of the groundwater table.
The harsh reality is
that acute water shortage and unseasonal rains destroy crops in over 93.81 lakh
hectares in northern India alone every year. In some regions drought-like
situations prevail with too little rain resulting in over 40% crop failures due
to lack of irrigation, while floods in others have lead to destruction of
harvest.
What next?
Certainly, the farmers may have genuine grouses. But this is not the way to go
about getting the Government to see reason. Till date the Government has shown good faith
by holding six rounds of talks with 40 farmer union leaders totaling 20 hours
of negotiations offering them a wide range of amendments in the laws, which address
most of their concerns.
Yet kisans,
it seems prefer stubborn inflexibility taking the maximalist position of repeal
of the three laws vowing to not only continue protest but also go on hunger
strike. Thereby creating a perception
that they are more interested in grandstanding wanting to humble the Government
than seeking an equitable solution to their woes.
Clearly, this maximalist position of repeal of the three laws by
the farmers tantamount to blackmail. Obviously no Government will tolerate
blackmail and ‘it’s my way or the highway’ muscle flexing as it would open the
flood gates for more bodies and lobbies holding the Administration to ransom, challenging
its authority.
True, the farm laws might not be perfect or
100% fool-proof, but perhaps with more amendments, they could have the
potential to provide a much-needed framework of change for the agricultural
sector while simultaneously protecting the farmers' interests. Clearly, the time
has come for kisans to climb down from
their stubborn intransigence and restart negotiations with the Government in
the larger interest of farmers and the country. Sagacity must prevail. ----
INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|