Farmers feed the entire nation, yet they are themselves deprived and distressed even after more than seven decades of independence. Droughts, un-seasonal rains, floods un-remunerative prices and lack of protective regulations still ails Indian agriculture resulting in the great despair of farmers. The three new farm laws have only added to their woes.
Farmers affiliated to the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh and various factions of Bharatiya Kisan Union have joined hands and formed a "Samyukta Kisan Morcha" to press for scrapping the three farm laws.
Visuals from Haryana today showed police barricading farmers and using tear gas and water gas on them. Haryana has sealed borders with Punjab. Prohibitory orders banning large gatherings have been imposed in the state. Haryana has also suspended bus service to and from Punjab for two days and diverted all traffic from the blocked roads.
Modi govt claims that new farm laws make it easier for farmers to sell their produce directly to private buyers and enter into a contract with private companies. Moreover, it is claimed that private sector investments n farming will stimulate its growth. Farmers can sell their produce to whoever , whenever and in any manner they want. Under new farm laws, farmers can come into an agreement with private companies. Such deals can financially attractive. Under the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act passed in 1964, it was compulsory for farmers to sell their produce at government-regulated markets, or mandis, where middlemen helped growers sell harvests to either the state-run company or private players.
Under new laws, the monopoly of APMC mandis will end but they will not be shut down. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) – the price at which the government buys farm produce – will not be scrapped.
The new laws also give farmers additional choices to sell their produce anywhere in the country, in contrast to the earlier situation where inter-state trade was not allowed. But under this system the State governments, which earn an income through transactions at mandis, stand to lose out on tax revenues as trade moves out of state or into the domain of private deals.
The Opposition has called the bills “black law” and “pro-corporate”, making farmers ‘slaves’ of the capitalists…” The old system of Arhttiyas (commission agents) bear the testimony to the exploitation of farmers. Arhtiyas or commission agents,are a link between farmers and buyers of their produce. They arrange for the auction and delivery of harvested crop to the buyers. They are also moneylenders with a long history in that trade. ... All of which means they wield great control over farmers.
Money lenders or capitalists always tend to fleece farmers in every situation. How can a small farmer store his produce for months on end? More than 90 percent of the farmers are small and marginal. They need to sell their produce soon after harvesting to tide over their financial needs, As such they will have no access to storage facilities. As a result, it is very likely that the produce will be sold at a rate which is unsustainable for the farmer. It is also preposterous to believe that small and marginal farmer swill have any bargaining power over private players.
As regards entering the contracting with businessmen, every one knows thart there are so many terms and conditions attached, that a farmer can hardly cope with them and in all probabilities, he will be exploited. Under the contract farmers become the slave of the company or investors.
Indian farmers for decades, have found themselves driven deeper into debt by crop failures and the inability to secure competitive prices for their produce. Finding themselves unable to cope with rising debt, many have resorted to taking their own lives.
Though agriculture sector contributes nearly 15 percent of India’s $2.9 trillion economy but it employs about half of the country’s 1.3 billion population.
Farmers of Punjab and Haryana, the two leading food grain producers in the country, feel the implications of these bills are quite adverse because farmers actually need protection of their interests in the form of regulations. On the contrary, Modi government has de-regulated the farm sector in the hope that private players will do what the government ought to be doing itself. It is not going to help farmers in any way.
The new farm laws are clearly meant for the agri-business companies and not the farmers. But there is also a positive side of the new farm laws as the are not going to hit all the farmers squarely. It’s going to help some and hurt others..
The problem with the bills is that they are putting the farmers into the hands of the private players without any safeguards and without any regulations or discipline in terms of price setting. There is a lack of regulatory oversight and price-setting body.The bills have put the farmers into the hands of the private players without adequate safeguards and without any regulations or discipline in terms of price setting. There is a lack of regulatory oversight and price-setting body.
Farmers also fear that sooner than later, the government will eventually dismantle the procurement system and the MSP transaction which they depend on. Laws have no meaning if stockholders are distressed by them. its better to scrap them.
(Chander Sharma)
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