@prashanthamine
Mumbai: What is happening right now in regards to three bills moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in regards to farmers, is nothing but political. Amidst all this is a bewildered farmer who is not just at the mercy of the vagaries of mother nature, but has been turned into a political pawn on the political chessboard of politicians.
The moot issue here is that of Agricultural Reforms and no one in power or those who control the levers of power through Agriculture and Cooperative movement do not want to forgo the stranglehold that they have on these two sectors
The three bills – The Farmers Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and Essential Commodities Act 1955 (Amendment 2020) are once again threatening to rip apart the farmer and make him the all too familiar pawn in the political game.
The ‘stand with the farmers’ has been going on since 2013, first 11 Congress ruled states decided to delist fruits and vegetables from the Agriculture Produce Market Committee’s (APMCs) and allow farmers to sell their produce in the open market outside the purview of the APMCs jurisdiction. Explanation to the noble cause given then was that farmers should get fair remunerative prices for their produce and the consumer should get the commodities at a reasonably affordable price.
After coming to power in 2014, the BJP-Shiv Sena led government in Maharashtra carried on from where the previous Congress led government had left the assurances incomplete. The BJP led government amended the APMC Act of 1963 to allow farmers to sell their produce outside of the APMCs. The second most important amendment to the APMC Act was to empower the farmers the right to elect members and chairman of the APMC. It had a cascading effect on the Cooperative Sugar, Banks and Spinning mills sector.
And what did the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) do after coming to power in 2019, in January 2020, the MVA promptly repealed the very same amendments made by the previous BJP led government. The arguments then and now are the same that these provisions are anti-farmer and flawed.
The opposition to the current set of legislations stems from three contentious points – it bars applicability of the state act in cases where farming agreements made in respect of any farming produce is made under the central act; second is that no civil court shall have jurisdiction in the matter; and third is that it leaves the state’s with only the task of framing rules for the implementation of the central act.
Let us not forget that the Center procures Rice (Paddy) and Wheat for the central pool at an assured Minimum Support Price (MSP). In the case of Rice, maximum procurement is done from major states like – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. While in the case of Wheat, maximum procurement is done from major states like – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Given the provisions of the central legislations and the procurement mechanism, one can understand why NDA partner Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) union minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal walked out of the BJP led NDA government. Another NDA constituent in Maharashtra, Rayat Kranti Sanghatana of Sadabhau Khot too has threatened to walkout over the onion price issue.
The central legislations are bound to have profound impact on ensuing assembly elections in states of Bihar and West Bengal. The BJP is in power on its own in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh; and shares power in Haryana and Bihar. The issue appears to realign the BJP led NDA and the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in coming days based on the respective local state level political equations.
As one senior bureaucrat from Maharashtra confided to this correspondent on conditions of anonymity, those who were on the other side of the power table they support the cause or oppose the government, the moment they come to power the issue is promptly put on the backburner. Another thing that governments often tend to do is to undo things that they had opposed of the previous governments. Bipartisan approach towards important policies, programs, infrastructure projects has never been our forte.
World over agrarian dominant economies, be it in the USA, Australia or New Zeland, governments have tended to support and subsidize their farmers especially in times of distress. But in India the Agrarian and Cooperative sectors are riddled with corruption and heavy political control.
Over the years in the rural agrarian economy especially in states like Maharashtra has been dominated by rising suicides by farmers distressed over mounting debts, low agricultural yield, erratic monsoons, erratic power supply, high labour costs, politicized water distribution societies, lack of space to store his produce, politically dominant APMCs and Cooperatives and are caught between fleecing money lenders and middlemen who shortchange them. It is debatable as for whom the oft repeated assurance of ‘Complete Farm Loan Waiver’ is intended for and whose pockets do these dubious farm loan waivers end up.
We have not given a thought as to why we still lag behind in production of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, coarse grain and end up importing them. For the small and marginal farmer, farming is no longer a profitable venture. Farmers are hesitant in recommending their children a career in farming. The Covid-19 pandemic has only added to the woes of the farmer and politicians are once again all set to make him their pawn in their political game. It leaves the farmer in no doubt as to who is going to benefit as they play politics with his woes.
