Revisiting the deliberation on the three Farm Laws | Part 2
Just a few days since my last article, and we have witnessed a dramatic incident in Hisar, Haryana- one that truly showed what the ruling party actually stands for. On May 16, as hundreds of farmers gathered to block the entry of the state’s Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar- who was there to ‘inaugurate’ a Covid hospital, the Haryana police unleashed a brutal attack on the protesting farmers.
In what was a totally draconian response from the state and it’s institution, hundreds of farmers, including women were left with grave injuries. Tear gas shells pierced through the skin of some, while others were were left with bleeding injuries from the baton charges and the stone pelting, from the police’s side.
This resistance and the agitated people, don’t come for nowhere. There is a background and well found reasons to their anger- which lies in the three farm laws and the core ignorance of the Government to the grievances of the farming community.
What one of the acts under the three farm laws, intends to do is to abolish the APMC mandis- as happened in Bihar in the year 2006. Since what this act intends to do on a national scale, is something that has already been witnessed in the state of Bihar- it is imperative that we look at the case of Bihar.
In Bihar, the Nitish Kumar led government abolished the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act way back in 2006- in a bid to invite more private investment and private players in the market. However, the act which was expected to be revolutionizing for farmers, has only brought them woes. Farmers are forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices, and most are not even able to recover their investment costs. For a state like Bihar where 90% of those engaged in farming, are small and marginal farmers- this abolishment has been catastrophic.
Rather than seeing an increase, the agricultural growth in Bihar has decelerated to 1.3 percent, during the five year period of 2012/13- 2016/17. (Source: Study on Agricultural Diagnostics for the State of Bihar in India, National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2019). The abolishing of the APMCs Act in the state has led to an instability in the market- this further affects the farmers who at least got a fair and stable price in the existence of the Mandis. What was also seen in the case of Bihar was that with the non-existence of APMCs, the procurement by government agencies automatically reduced- leaving the farmers to hang in the dry. This is totally contrary to the repeated claims of the Government, which has been stating that government procurement won’t stop. Alas, if only words could be relied upon!
The case of Bihar also proves that simply abolishing the APMC act does not guarantee private investments into the sector. Rather, it only proves dangerous for the common farmer- who now has nowhere to sell his/her produce. While mandis provide the farmers with a certainty for their grains finding a buyer, in their absence the farmers are and will be left helpless. Even if private players bring with them storage facilities as well, of which there has always been a dearth- it is known from the case of Bihar that the costs of these private facilities is extremely high, which small/marginal farmers can’t afford. Following the statistics would be enough to suffice the fact that farmers’ income in the state of Bihar is deteriorating- as is evident from the attached table:
Source: Farmers’ Income in India: Evidence from secondary data; A study submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture; By: Thiagu Ranganathan (2015)
Moreover, if abolishing APMCs in Bihar was a clearing away of the hurdle, then why is it so that produce from states like Bihar is brought to be sold in the states of Haryana and Punjab. If alternative markets were to offer greater remunerative prices, why would farmers from Bihar try their hands try their hands at selling their produce either in other states or otherwise, be forced to sell it at extremely low and practically, throwaway prices in their own state?
For farmers, who are at the mercy of nature to feed their families, government regulations act as a protective shield. While having no control over the weather changes, the APMC and MSP setup assures farmers of acting as secure resort. As pointed out by 2019 study by the Institute for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania- that MSP acts as the only risk management for farmers. It also pointed out a 30% difference between the incomes of farmer families in Bihar and those in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
Further, on 14 May 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released rs 19,000 crore under the rather unavailing scheme, PM-KISAN yojana. While delivering an address during the release of the scheme, PM Modi emphasized on farmers taking up organic farming, as an alternative method of cultivation.
However, if only lip service could bring changes, then our country would have been at the top of all indices. In view of the current technology and other factors it is important to understand that at present, considering all factors, organic farming is not a feasible alternative to the conventional farming. Agricultural scientist BG Shivakumar, of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) pointed out that ‘Organic farming still can’t be considered as a suitable alternative under all circumstances in India’. As I talked about the missing Research and Development from the field of Agriculture, the same argument stands to hold relevance in this case as well.
No doubt that organic produce can capture a big market in the future and it might be the way to move forward, but there can be no such produce until we don’t have mass information dissemination for the same. For this purpose, there is an urgent need for R&D to investigate into suitable methods of shifting from conventional to organic farming, how to reduce the time period between the shift so that farmers don’t have to bear losses. Along with that there needs to more serious efforts than just lip service from the Government’s side, which work on the creation of a greater market for organic food, providing incentives to farmers involved in the same- since organic produce is known to yield less and involve high costs.
Undoubtedly, there is still a lot to be done in the Agricultural sector, lots of areas to work upon, lots of aspects to be dealt with. Unfortunately, the Government’s attention is misplaced and isn’t focused on the issues that really concern the average Indian farmer. Such instances only uncover the real intentions of the leaders in Delhi. This makes it all the more important that we keep a vigilance on their intentions. So far about 500 lives have been lost in the course of the Farmers Protests- all attributed to the lack of concern of the power-consumed leaders. I hope we remember whom to hold accountable when we go on to search for answers to these invaluable losses.