Drop new farm laws, constitute panel including farmer leaders to move forward and strengthen farm sector

 

Repeal new farm laws, constitute panel including farmer leaders to move forward

Jagtar Singh

Ground Zero

 

Understanding the crisis triggered by the new farm laws introduced by the pro-corporate Narendra Modi government is not a rocket science. The issue is simple.

The privatisation of health and education has created havoc for the common man and both have become unaffordable. For years, the fee for post-graduate courses in Punjabi university, Patiala in 1970s was only Rs. 20 . The teachers were renowned in their fields. Not any more. Similar was the case with professional institutions like medical and engineering  colleges which were easily  accessible to middle and lower middle classes.

One of the major components of the farm indebtedness is the cost of healthcare.

The fear is that the new farm laws would move in the same direction and destroy  the farm economy to make way for the corporates to take over the way that has happened in health and education fields.  The Post-Graduate Institute of Education and Resrach in Chandigarh much cheaper and quality treatment as compared to virtual loot by  the corporate hospitals in nearby Mohali which were provided cheaper land by the government.

It is not just fear of the farmer. This is the logic of this free market model of development that dictates the policy makers in several third world countries and the results everywhere have been disastrous.

Take the case of highways. One has to pay toll at several places from Delhi to Amritsar. The people are also charged road tax on the vehicles at the time of registration. Why this double taxation? This happened after this sector was opened to the private players.

One has to understand the functioning of the farm sector in the context of Punjab.

Punjab is the first region in this part of the Indian sub-continent where the tenets were made owners of the land and the man who introduced this revolutionary land reform was the legendry Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. The land ownership changed the entire structure of farming in Punjab. He was the first founder of the Sikh rule. This dynamics contributed to the shaping of the psyche of the people.

The villages were not only self-sufficient in Punjab but also by and large accessible. The poverty that characterized other regions of the Indian sub-continent did not exist here despite the repeated invasions from across the Khyber Pass. The Punjabis were the first to confront the invaders from Greek and Central Asia. This situation  and the Sikh doctrine have further sharpened the resistance to injustice. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Faith, was the first rebel in hundreds of years in this region.

The Green Revolution became a success only in Punjab of which Haryana was a part when the new experiment was undertaken. The  organized agri markets in Punjab had come up in 1930s. The entrepreneurship of the Punjabi farmer and the existence of the basic infrastructure made Green Revolution a success and India became food sovereign ending country’s dependence of US foodgarins imported under PL 480. Diminishing returns, however, set in around mid eighties and that was also the period of militancy.

In the process of maximizing productivity, Punjab’s soil health and environment have been severely damaged. The governments both at the state and the central level should have come to the rescue of the beleaguered farmers. But then the wheat-paddy cycle is also their sustenance.

The centre has advanced the logic that the new laws would provide access to the farmers to free market.

This access is already there.

The farmers in Punjab, aware of the limitations of the wheat-paddy cycle, started experimenting at diversification at their own. At this point, it must be mentioned that before the wheat-paddy rotation, Punjab used to grow about 30 crops. The Punjabi farmers started cultivating short maturing sunflower crop, especially in Doaba. The results over the years were disastrous. The list of such crops is long.

At times, the potato growers have to dump their produce on the roads as the market price would not cover even the cost of cold storage.

Cotton sells at much lower price before the government agencies enter the market. The worst case scenario is maze. The issue is not the free market which is already there. The Pepsi experiment of corporate farming failed miserably.

One index of the farm crisis in Punjab are the markets for second tractors where virtually new tractors are offered for sale.

The issues must be understood in proper context.

The classic case of free market experiment is Bihar where similar laws were introduced in 2006. Produce from Bihar is brought to the Punjab markets for sale. The new laws would push Punjab towards Biharisation.

This also needs to be mentioned that Punjab at one stage introduced mechanization in big markets  to make the mandis more efficient. The system just failed.

As against the reforms that the Modi government wants to implement in the trading of farm produce, the issue needs holistic approach. The focus has to be on cultivator and not the trader.

The cenrtre does not need paddy and wheat grown in Punjab. Fine. Provide direct subsidy to farmers to diversify to other crops. There has to be incentive to the farmers. The farmers in Punjab have already tried to get out of the wheat-paddy cycle but failed due to lack of assured market. Farm sector in USA and European countries is heavily subsidized. The urbanized  media virtually ignorant  of the dynamics of farm sector had strongly criticized the Akali Dal government for introducing free power to run tubewells in 1997. The issue was that of providing subsidy.

The corporate sector is getting huge subsidies every year and such subsidies are propagated as incentives. This is major distortion in the economy. Why such double standards?

But then the issue is not just of farmers. The consumers would be equally hit when the market price is controlled by Ambanis and Adanis after monopolizing the trade.

It is not without reason that Mukesh Ambani has crticised the farmers struggle going by his tweets.

The hurry with which the Modi government adopted the new legislation raises questions about the intention.

India is democratic country and democracy has to be transparent - of the people, for the people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is associated with boldness.

He should exhibit his boldness in favour of the farmers, drop new legislations and constitute a committee with representation from farmer leaders, especially from Punjab, to move forward.

The new arrangement only empowers the corporates to loot both the farmers as well as consumers.

Next meeting on December 9 should discuss the formation of new committee.