The manner in which global finance sought to creep into the power sector through reforms should be a warning for the farmer community
Finally, the central government repealed the three contentious farm laws buckling under pressure from a sustained peaceful movement of farmers. The victory of the farmers makes us to reflect on the linkage between public resistance and policy makers' response. Whether the central government is honest in its commitment to the farming community is the core question.
Though the net outcome partially meets the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) demands, the government failed to present a reasoning why it initially thought the farm laws would enhance the living conditions of the farmers and why it backed out from that stand. In the whole exercise, the Union Minister for Agriculture is nowhere visible. When the three acts were passed, several commentators from government and autonomous think tanks seriously defended the government. But such voices are missing when the laws were repealed. At the time of passing the repeal bills, surprisingly, the government was not inclined to debate them clause by clause. All in all, the time spent on Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021 in Lok Sabha was a mere two minutes; eight minutes in the Rajya Sabha.
The statement of objects and reasons mentioned in the Farm Laws Repeal bill curiously sticks to the euphemism that only a group of farmers were protesting against these laws. This clearly indicates the fact that nothing has changed in the government's perception about the year-long peaceful agitation and the demands of the farmers cutting across the political spectrum. Through the repeal bill, the government tried its best to miscommunicate when it said: "These enactments were made for the overall socio-economic development of the farmers and rural sector after extensive consultations with various stakeholders following the felt need and demand of the farmers' organisations, suggestions and recommendations of the experts, professionals, agricultural economists, expert committees over the years." This is exactly contrary to the argument of the SKM which alleged that the government seldom consulted any one of them.
There are several other justifications the government tried to put forward in the repeal bill that we cannot find in the Prime Minister's address to the nation on Guru Purab day. That is because it does not want to expose itself before the global investor community for buckling under pressure. The government's dishonesty was evident when it used the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to substantiate backtracking on the farm bills.
The above facts clearly bring us back to the tendency of global finance capital that tries until it succeeds in its ventures. The creeping-in nature is the most dominant form of international finance capital's maneuvering capacities. To buttress this impending danger, we should recollect what had happened to power sector reforms as a whole.
The deregulation and privatization of power sector was prescribed to India by Fund-Bank think tanks two decades ago. They found their brand ambassador in Chandrababu Naidu who wanted to be a pioneer of reforms at the state level and often at national level. After resuming power, he immediately resorted to unbundling of the power sector in the then Andhra Pradesh. He had to encounter a sustainable resistance from the Left as well as government employees. The subsequent agitation culminated in the then Telugu Desam government letting loose police action in which five people died. Following that movement, the power sector reforms failed to pick speed like the proponents of globalization wanted to and neither Telugu Desam nor Chandrababu Naidu were successful in retaining the public trust. And this was the agitation that catapulted the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy to power and played a solid role in mopping up numbers for Congress during the UPA years.
Despite the heroic struggle of the people of Andhra Pradesh, the international finance capital crept into the power sector slowly but steadily, charting out the progressive reforms at its own pace by co-opting government after government. Now, it is struggling to push through complete privatization of distribution which is being met with stiff resistance.
The two-and-a-half-decade experience with power sector reforms compels any keen observer of the reform path in India and warn the farming community about the creeping tendency. This is further buttressed by the government through what it states in repeal bill.
(The writer is an independent researcher and runs Mana Manchi Pustakam Youtube Channel. The views expressed are personal.)
