Since farmers have started returning home and it would not be before the New Year that the traffic on National Highways 9, 44 and 24 (Tikri border, Singhu border, and Ghazipur border) would restart at its normal pace after about a year. Dismantling of structures that were created by agitating farmers is taking time and the National Highways Authority would take about ten days to do the repair work.
Life would come to normal. Vehicles would ply fast and timely and this would be business as it used to be. A new landmark for those who could not visit Singhu borders would become a site of curiosity. Farmers’ Unions have claimed that close to 700 farmers who came to participate in the agitation have died. The cause of death is not known. Who died where and how people would like to know? Did they get enough facility at the dharna site? Who all were responsible? In the euphoria of victory, such issues are likely to be buried.
But those passing through these roads of national highways would always ponder what was the agitation about. While for some it may be a moment of triumph, for most people this would be a moment of frustration and despair. If three legislations promised freedom from middlemen and gave freedom of choice, the withdrawal of the same has led to the status quo. The gullible farmers would be hugging these same middlemen hardly realising that they are the people responsible for their plight. The cycle of exploitation would continue.
They would be able to burn their crop stubble without fear even at the cost of their own lives and the lives of others. The constitution and the courts are for the weak. If you can organise and demonstrate power, you can get away with lawlessness. There will always be irresponsible leaders Tikait to hog the limelight, political parties to support and international organisations to voice your concerns irrespective of right or wrong or dharma.
Should Courts be giving judgements depending on the popular mood? What is the purpose of the blindfold lady that symbolises justice? The good of society is subjected to populism. Lawmaking as the jurisdiction of Parliament has been seriously compromised. You just need to choke the arteries of Delhi to make the Government accept your demands even if these defy logic and fail to pass the test of rationality.
The political parties that supported the movement without discussing its long-term implications for the country have harmed the institutions of democracy. Whenever an unbiased assessment is done, they would be condemned in history as the ones who throttled the voice of reason because of their hatred for the BJP and Narendra Modi and repeated failures to revive their political fortunes.
One would wonder what was the agitation about? A parallel system of procurement, marketing and trade was given without compromising on the old system. Never seen such a mindless agitation where people oppose to take even an option of opting out of the old exploitative system. This was meant to attack the institutions of the middlemen who pocketed the hard-earned money of farmers who toiled in the field. This has been a long-standing demand of various farmers’ organisations including the Farmers’ Commission headed by MS Swaminathan.
Now is has been proved beyond doubt that these adhatiyas have an Octopus-like presence in the Indian agriculture system. Since this is almost free money that comes at the cost of others, musclemen play a very significant role along with political support. For those who are unaware, and they found this fanciful to sit at the dharna site to express their support to the agitators, they should just visit a grain Mandi to have a first-hand experience of how the system works.
These adhatiyas who make a lot of money by dealing in wheat and paddy procurement have won and the farmers would continue to suffer. They often go to distant places for buying grains from other states so that these could be sold in the MSP mandis of Punjab and Haryana. The three farm legislations were path-breaking and could have unshackled agriculture from the cycle of exploitation.
But they should not assume that the Prime Minister would sit lying down taking the opposition as defeat. He is committed to reforming agriculture and he would find out ways to help the poor farmers and bring them out of the clutches of money lenders and middlemen. Any reform that seeks to change the status quo will face stiff opposition. It needs a lot of force to bring a body from inertia of rest to motion. Ex-Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao faced stiff resistance when he launched economic reforms in the early 1990s. US President Abraham Lincoln was bitterly opposed when he abolished slavery and gave equal rights to Black people.
None doubts Modi’s sincerity in making agriculture more productive. The expenditure on agriculture has increased by at least five times and every year now more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being spent to make agriculture more productive. Rs 1 lakh crore has been earmarked especially to boost agriculture infrastructures such as storage and machinery. Close to 10,000 Farm Producers’ Organisations (FPOs) are being set up to help small farmers and the government is spending Rs 7,000 crore to make this possible. More than 80% of farmers (close to 10 crore) are small farmers since they have land less than two acres.
What Prime Minister Modi has been doing for agriculture very few could do before him. His consistency, commitment, and zeal are unparalleled. A piecemeal approach would not work and a 360-degree look is needed to make agriculture productive and empower farmers. He had experimented with this when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The state had increased its agriculture output due to better linkages with the market that gave a better price to farmers.
He has been trying to implement those good practices all across the country whether it was the use of micro-irrigation, better pest-resistant seeds, less use of chemical fertilisers, more and more use of organic manures, expanding crop insurance and Kisan Credit Cards and soil testing. If the philosophy in the use of water is more crops per drop using drip irrigation, the philosophy for soil is more yield per acre without compromising the quality of the soil.
To take care of destitute farmers, he has already been giving them Kisan Samman Nidhi which is income support of Rs 6,000 to small farmers. Already, Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been transferred directly into the accounts of 11 crore beneficiaries.
The middlemen are already in trouble due to the Government’s decision to transfer purchases under MSP directly into accounts of farmers under the DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) scheme. Now when the middlemen ask for their cut, farmers would know how much money is being pocketed by their so-called benefactors.
The other major issue is whether middlemen can purchase grains cheaper from other states and sell the same in MSP markets of Punjab and Haryana. The MSP by principle should benefit local farmers and hence should be linked to the land. This would remove the anomaly of getting MSP directly into the account of farmers and the issue of surplus grains.
The middlemen are fighting a battle they are bound to lose. This will happen due to the proliferation of FPOs and better penetration of the banking system. If farmers can get money from banks without paying a hefty cut to local contacts for getting those loans, they would definitely come out of the grips of middlemen. However, unequal or difficult access to government credits would not help much.
What is needed are stronger cooperatives in agriculture so that the decisions can be disseminated fast and farmers can be persuaded about the use of modern technology. Since these cooperatives would have greater say in credit inflow and linkages with the markets, they would be able to drive down rationality as well. If burning farm stubble is poisonous and can endanger health, who is going to make these farmers understand the implications and also provide them with an alternative that is aligned with their lifestyle.
Farmers returning home, with hope in their eyes of a better future, are assured that the PM understands their plight. Most of them may be cultivators who may be working for landowners sitting in Canada or other countries. Without a proper legal agreement, even their rights over land are not established and they are at the mercy of these middlemen.
The writer is the author of ‘Narendra Modi: the GameChanger’. A former journalist, he is a member of BJP’s media relations department and represents the party as spokesperson while participating in television debates. The views expressed are personal.
What is needed are stronger cooperatives in agriculture so that the decisions can be disseminated fast and farmers can be persuaded about the use of modern technology. Since these cooperatives would have greater say in credit inflow and linkages with the markets, they would be able to drive down rationality as well.