This isn’t the first protest and it won’t be the last either. But it would define the way growers resolve their issues
The deadlock between the protesting farmers and the Government shows no sign of ending even after six rounds of deliberations and concerted efforts to reach an amicable solution. Consequently, the protracted protest against the farm laws will drag on. The sit-in of growers from Punjab and Haryana at the Singhu Border was not by choice since they were stopped from entering Delhi. But it would not be accurate to call it a sit-in dharna anymore. It is more of a live-in one. The tractor trolleys the farmers came in have become their home, with canopies of polythene sheets and blankets protecting them from the biting cold. From Singhu Border to Panipat, National Highway NH44 wears the look of a makeshift township. Community kitchens are busy dishing out food and beverages while medical camps are distributing medicines and giving first-aid. And yes, pizza distribution is going on at Singhu Border, much to the amusement of the social and national media. Milling about in the largely rural crowd of growers and Nihangs are people in western outfits as support pours in from people who do not have any connection with agriculture. A group of young girls from Ludhiana is lending support by performing “sewa.”
The sit-in so far is peaceful even though more than 30 of them are said to have died during the protest so far. The farmers want nothing less than the repeal of the three farm laws and legal status for the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The Government insists that it has no intention of withdrawing MSP and the new laws would help achieve the target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, the target set by the Prime Minister.
The “godi media” is abuzz with stories that the people protesting at the Singhu Border are anything but farmers. They maintain that the growers of the country are happy with the Government. How else would you explain the recent victories of the BJP in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Goa? Meanwhile, the two sides seem to be digging in their heels. The farmers are in for a long haul as the Government wants this agitation to fizzle out like others before it. To be honest, both sides are not helping their cause. The farmers asking for total repeal and not negotiating would not get what they want. The Government says the three laws will end the free run of middlemen and give growers the choice to sell their produce anywhere. In this situation, the Government must take the initiative to ease the situation, as discrediting the protesters doesn’t help in mitigating it.
One thing is for sure, all is not well with Indian agriculture. It provides a livelihood to 70 per cent of the country’s 1.3 billion people, with 82 per cent of farmers being small and marginal. Most farmers in such a scenario are as good as meagre wage earners. Parties may be winning elections but it does not mean that farmers are happy. At least 10,281 people involved in the farm sector ended their lives in 2019, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the total number of suicides in India, says the National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report for 2019. People commit suicide out of utter helplessness and despair looms large over Indian agriculture, big time.
If one looks at the price structure, it becomes very clear where the problem lies. Everything which comes from the farm sells at a good price to the end consumer. But the farmer gets just 10 to 40 per cent of the price that the consumer pays. The reason being that farm produce changes hands four to five times before it is purchased by the end consumer for use.
“It is pathetic that the producer gets a pittance while the middlemen make money,” says Sahajdeep Singh, a young farmer from Rajasthan. “Things might not work out for the farmer even if middlemen are eliminated. It would then be monopolised by corporates. The farmer would have no negotiating status vis-à-vis the corporates,” he adds.
He fears that corporates might monopolise the distribution chain and reap more profits than all the middlemen put together as they would have better resources to hold and release the stock when the price suits them. Prices for farmers are almost static but inflation is rising and so is the cost of agriculture inputs. The margins are thin and if you are a small or marginal farmer you don’t have a choice but to take a loan. According to the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development data, about 52 per cent of the agricultural households in the country were estimated to be indebted. At the all-India level, about 60 per cent of the outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources which included Government (2.1 per cent), co-operative society (14.8 per cent) and banks (42.9 per cent).
True, the MSP may not be a panacea but it certainly helps them negotiate a better price. Punjab farmers can afford smartphones as their landholding size is more and yield per acre is above average.
According to an estimate, the average Indian agricultural household income is Rs 77,124 in a year. Punjab farmers earn Rs 2,16,708 per annum and that of Bihar Rs 42,684 or roughly Rs 3,500 per month. So forget doubling, even quadrupling their income would not be enough. The farmers would still be dangling below the poverty line.
Indian agriculture sector needs funds. It needs investments in cold storage, an efficient transportation system, irrigation facilities, research and facilities for scientific practices. Despite big talk about the farmers’ income, the actual investment in the sector is going down. So the powers that be provide short-term succour that people can remember when they go to vote. The UPA did it and the NDA is doing it now.
The biggest problem with Indian agriculture is that by the time it is harvest season, farmers are neck-deep in debt as they take loans from banks or a local moneylenders-cum-middlemen to purchase, seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and diesel. So when the harvest comes, they have no option but to sell the whole crop immediately. They cannot wait for prices to swing in their favour.
Sadly, real issues are swept under the carpet and farmers become a pawn in the games political parties play. So far the protest is free from any political influence, consciously or otherwise. It is also non-violent even though farmers are dying of cold. In a protest of this size, things could change instantly. It would, therefore, be in everyone’s interest to resolve the impasse soon. Both must talk with an open mind, keeping the arrogance of power aside. History tells us that farmers’ protests have always been turning points in a nation’s life. This isn’t the first protest and it won’t be the last either. But this would define the way farmers resolve their issues.
(The writer is a columnist and documentary film-maker. The views expressed are personal.)
