Today we will explain why the
farmers across the country- especially in Punjab and Haryana- are raising their
voice and protesting against the government? The government was on its path to
do something good. Then where did this problem come from? We will talk about
all of this today.
We thought that the government
must have deliberated over whatever they had done while bringing in the
agricultural bills. But, unfortunately, now that so many protests are erupting,
the situation has come down to becoming very serious. Especially, now that the
Prime Minister has said that this is a historic bill. Now, the moment he said
that our radars picked it up- because the same was said during the time of
GST, that it was a historic bill and that it was almost a "second independence"
for the country. What that GST bill did to the country and the economy is in
front of all of us to see Furthermore, Harsimrat Kaur ji has now put forward
his resignation. She was the sole minister of the Shiromani Akali Dal in BJP
and even she resigned. Now, you can imagine the politics and pressure that led
to this.
On top of that, Diljit
Dosanjh, who has never meddled in politics, being a rockstar, popstar and
Punjabi hit star himself has declared his support for the farmers. This
indicates that there is a lot of groundswell and ground support. And not to
mention, there are more than 250 farmer organizations who have declared that
they would protest even more this week as this bill goes into the Rajya Sabha.
So, we will get to see even more street protests. In the midst of this, the Prime Minister has declared that the farmers' bill is actually a great move which would be for their benefit and that the farmers are being misguided.
So today, we will try and
find out whether the main issue that the farmers are protesting about is
actually a manifestation of the people being misled or this is actually an
issue that the government should have solved upon consultation- the lack of
which is causing the farmers to lash out. What actually happens- and this why
we need Legos- this is our farmer and this is a small tractor, Now, every
farmer does not have one. But since we are on the path to a "5 trillion dollar
economy" and we're "progressive", we thought of giving our
farmer one. Then comes our main player who is also the main bone of contention
and that is the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) and this the
middleman- He is an extremely important character. Keep that in mind, After
APMC, now we will talk about corporate business interests. This is a weird
building that reminds me of one that I've seen somewhere, and this is a
corporate head sitting atop that huge building- ruling it. We will talk about
his role shortly.
Generally, when our farmers
sow and reap their harvest after a lot of hard work, they take their harvest to
APMC, And there takes place the evaluation of the harvest. In government
regulated APMC markets, there is auctioning of products. First, there is
scanning, then auctioning- and then there is price discovery. This helps the
farmers know the cost at which the middlemen are ready to buy their produce. So, auctioning leads to price discovery. So, the government... The issue and
the agenda are good. So was the GST. Nobody ever said that there shouldn't be a
system of one nation, one tax in place. But at that time, nobody raised a
question on whether the provisions (of the GST bill) were reached upon after
deliberation and consultation or merely on their whims. This is the same
problem that is arising here. So, do keep the GST bill in mind while we talk
about the farmers' bill/agricultural bills because there are talks about solving
the problems that arise in it. The middleman also happens to be a little wicked.
He indulges in price setting and hoarding. So, he had become an exploitative
force. He buys from the farmers at cheap rates and then sells to other people
at higher rates. So, there are allegations of hoarding on him. There are also
allegations of inflating the price on him as well as the allegations of earning
a lot of money by virtue of being a middleman. So, the government thought of
doing away with them and removing them. When there were certain elements in the
APMC that were good - such as price discovery and the like There is one
important thing- even when the middle man is removed, there is one great thing
about the APMC-and that is- even if the middlemen do not buy their products, the
farmers can go and sell their produce on a Minimum Support Price. Very few
farmers in India have discovered the Minimum Support Price. But, when every
farmer in India discovers the Minimum Support Price, then the plight of the
farmers might just improve. But he can sell his produce at a Minimum Support
Price in the APMC market. So, here are the good and the bad of the APMC market.
Exploitation has taken place and the APMC market isn't perfect. We are already
aware of this.
The government now steps in and says...
By the way, this has been said
by a number of previous governments- even by the Congress(in a way). Of course,
not in the way, it has been executed this time and that is, without
consultation. So, the government steps in like Spiderman and knocks the middle
man out of the way. And then they talk about dismantling the APMC gradually- at least that is what the impression is, And they say that the farmers should go
straight to the corporates and talk with them. So, our poor farmer steers his
tractor and goes to the corporates. Now, the government is saying that there
is no need to deal with the APMCs and that the farmers should deal directly
with the corporates. And this is where the problem starts. The thought process
of unlocking and putting a system of "one market, one nation" in
place is great.
But
where was the problem?
Broadly speaking, what the
government has tried to do is to remove the APMC and has asked the farmers to
directly engage with the corporates Corporate. Farmer. No middlemen. The
middlemen should be removed and the farmers should be tied up with the
corporates. Why?
Because it the promise of
Narendra Modi to double the farmers' income by 2022. And this is being seen as
an important way to achieve this. In theory, it is correct to empower the
farmer and do away with the middlemen. But, are our farmers that empowered?
All these provisions mentioned in the bill, do they truly empower our farmers, or
do they empower the corporate structures more? That remains to be seen. Firstly
and most importantly- the reason why the farmers are out on the streets- there
is no mechanism to show what the corporates will pay the farmers when the
farmers go to them to sell their produce. Say, there is a bumper harvest that
year. The corporates then can buy the product for a pittance from the farmers. There
is no mechanism to find out whether the Minimum Support Price has been matched
or not.
The farmers are asking for
nothing else- only the assurance that the corporates will buy produce at the
Minimum Support Price. The government has not responded to this. So, this is
the biggest problem- whether the Minimum Support Price is met or not.
Second-
How will the price discovery take place?
In the mandis of APMC,
irrespective of how good or bad they are, at least there was an auction and a
price discovery was made. In this case, whatever the big corporates say will
become the price discovery. The procedure of price discovery will be done away
with. And the government has not mentioned an alternative system of price
discovery. So, there is no Minimum Support Price or price discovery. Another
prime reason is that it is said that it encourages big businessmen. Why?
Because
when they deal with the small farmers, who would be benefiting in that
scenario?
The farmer is not going to
match up to the level of the big corporates up there. The farmer stays with his
ox down here. And at least the mandis had some sort of equality! But in this
case, the mega corporates up there would dictate terms of price and contract
farming and put forward their conditions. And what will the farmers be able to
do?
So,
another major issue is: What would you do if the mega corporates do not pay
the small farmers?
Now, there is another
problematic angle to this- the power of dispute resolution would be more in the
hands of the bureaucrats rather than the courts, according to the government. So,
even in the process of dispute resolution, clearly, the corporates have been
favored more and they have been given more benefits. If there is a dispute and
money is not paid, the farmers would not be able to even communicate with the
corporates. The same is being said for contract farming. Say a mega-corporation
gets into contract farming with the farmers and something goes amiss. How many
doors is the poor farmer supposed to knock then?
Because even this contract
farming is possible only when the farmers are able to have a conversation from
an equal level of strength and then be able to bargain- which is not happening
at the moment. So, these are the issues. Furthermore, why did the government
take the ordinance route? This is such a grave and important issue. Even the
farmers acknowledge that. So it was so important and grave, then why did the
government resort to the ordinance making emergency powers and get the bill passed?
Why no
discussions/conversations were held over it is another important point?
So, whether be it contract
farming or dispute resolution or whether be the ordinance route that has been
taken or the corporates benefiting out of this, whether it is that there is no
Minimum Support Price, whether it is that there is no equality and price
discovery- All of these issues persist. Another important one is that- until
now, the government used to buy the product in case of any excess being unsold
in the market at the Minimum Support Price and that used to go to the godowns
of the Food Corporation of India and that should go to the poor people in order
to save them from starvation. It is another thing that the system is not fully
followed. The grains in the godowns get rotten. But the need was to improve
this. Instead of that, we are handing it over to the corporates. Governance
should indeed be limited. But in core sectors like these- where the lives of crores
of farmers are involved, such open liberalization and handing things over in
the hands of the corporates should not be done
So, what should be done?
There's a lot to do. And maybe this is why there are so many protests by the
farmers. There is probably a need to rewind the way that AMPC was thrown away and
everything was handed over in the hands of the corporates. Because this is a
system that has been in place since 1965- despite its persisting problems.
There is a need to rectify the system rather than throwing it away. First of
all, the markets can be regulated better, then the middlemen can be controlled
better, or they can bring more electronic features in the existing APMCs. Also-
Why do only 6% of farmers make use of the Minimum Support Price? And why are those
that use it extremely happy?
They enjoy the assurance
of the Minimum Support Price by the government. So, there is a need for more
such APMCs- which they didn't bring about. So, there is a need to do that. The
government talks about "One nation, one market." Why not "one
nation, one MSP(Minimum Support Price)"?
They can declare what the
Minimum Support Price in the entire country would be. Regulation of mandis is
one aspect. If the concerns of the farmers and the opposition were properly
addressed, then so many people would probably not be out on the streets like
they are today. Somewhere down the line, the arrogance of the government in
taking such an important decision without consultation has come back to bite
them, and finally talking about communication- the Prime Minister maintains that
the people are being misguided. There is one specialty of the government and that
is communication specialty. The people believe whatever the government says If
they say it is the day, the people believe it. If they say it is night, the people
again believe it.
So, how is it then, the
government is not able to convince the people about such an important decision?
Just like in the case of GST, the intention of the government is good. But
somewhere, the people have now realized that the GST was testimony to how a
good decision can be made worse by rushing it and not consulting anyone. So, now,
the need of the moment is that the government should pay heed to the people,
bring more improvements in the APMC, and simultaneously encourage the corporates
as well. But this attitude of "my way or the Highway" has probably
started to backfire now. Now it remains to be seen how much the farmers will
protest next week. But it is for sure that this bill is an extremely important
one and it concerns the livelihood of the farmers. Because if the corporate
takeover over agriculture happens, then the farmer distress would maybe
escalate in the coming future.
Thanks
for reading, Have a nice day!