Farmers' Movement - Concerns Over Unity

Concerns over unity and not playing into the hands of the powers that be, a sense of achievement in terms of steering political narratives, and a clear vision of a long fight to achieve goals, mark the farm sector in Punjab and Haryana at this point of time.

While developments such as to the ‘Dilli Chalo’ push by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), and the sustained campaign of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) that has a footprint across India, are being reported on a daily basis, it is the behind the scenes developments, perceptions and issues that call for a deeper understanding.

There are concerns over the movement’s unity. Unrest, caution and palpable fears are visible. In the last few days there have been stories appearing in the regional media that point towards differences among various farmer groups. For example there have been reports quoting KMM leaders that accuse SKM of not supporting the ‘Dilli Chalo’ initiative.

There have also been reports of the SKM (Non Political) along with KMM leadership stating that the farmers’ leaders who had contested Punjab Assembly polls, or have political leanings should stay away from the current protests.

The SKM on the other side has been continuing with its well charted out path with regards to putting pressure on the government for realising demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted two years ago while agreeing to the repealing of the three farm laws.

Except for the ‘Dilli Chalo’ call, the SKM has even given support to the SKM (Non Political) and KMM on the issues the latter are raising since they are common to the interests of the entire farming community. The SKM leadership went on to protest outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offices for three days across the country and even protested at toll plazas.

All eyes are now set on the Mahapanchayat Call that has been given by the SKM for March 14 at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Deliberations are going on regarding the course of action in case the government does not allow the movement of people from various states to Delhi for this Mahapanchayat.

“There have been differences between groups all along but it is better that these are resolved behind the curtains, and allegations are not made in the public. The message now being construed is that both the government and the groups that are now raising allegations against the SKM have a common ground, as far as targeting the SKM is concerned,” an observer who was closely associated with the farmers’ movement of 2020 said.

“A call like Dilli Chalo needs a sustained effort on the ground for months to succeed. Last time we had built the movement for six months before proceeding to the national capital. This included working out the logistics besides organising a series of protests step by step. You cannot just announce a Dilli Chalo call in January and start moving in mid February,” he added.

Narayan Dutt of Inquilabi Kendar Punjab had an interesting take on these developments. “The BJP leadership understands that it is only the farmers and the working class that can halt its political juggernaut. They would do anything and would be most pleased if they succeed in implementing the policy of divide and rule.

“They have managed to suppress every voice, even the voices in the legislature by using various agencies and institutions. It is only the farmers and the working class that stand in their way at present.

“There were pernicious attempts to divide the farmers during the 13 month farmers’ movement that started in 2020. A section of the farmers was projected as Khalistani and hence anti India. There were attempts to divide them as Hindus and Sikhs, Punjabis and Haryanvis”.

“Even those who had gone to the Red Fort on January 26, 2021 resulting in the hoisting of the Nishan Sahib had been escorted there. There were attempts to ensure some violence and later quell the movement by force. But the forces that failed at that time to break the unity seem to be succeeding to some extent this time,” another source involved with the farmers’ movement added.

Regarding the proposal on crop diversification and MSP on five crops that the government had reportedly floated some days back, it is being said that the purpose was to send across a message before the Lok Sabha polls that along with other sections, the farmers too had been won over. The proposal was rejected by the SKM despite the government having talks with the SKM (Non Political) and the KMM which are nowhere c\lose to having a national footprint like that of the SKM. The SKM had led the 13-month long unprecedented farmers’ movement. Why the government chose not to talk to the SKM is anybody’s guess?

The SKM recently stated that it considers the human disaster due to the lingering agrarian crisis a priority. Around 27 farmers commit suicide every day, and young farmers are forced to join the rank of migrant workers to work for a pittance in the urban centers. “Around 80 crores people depend on free ration under the Modi rule - the need of the hour is the largest unity of the farmers’ movement against the corporate forces,” they said.

The SKM once again demonstrated its pan India presence on February 26 by organising tractor parades in 400 districts while raising the demand that India quit the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the interest of its farmers.

“The WTO's demand that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy be withdrawn is not just an assault on crores of farmers of India, but also an attack on India's sovereignty. Similar Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) being pushed on India are against farmers and the larger interests of Indian citizens,” the SKM stated.

“The demand to quit WTO assumes significance in the light of the farmers’ protests going on in no less than a dozen countries in Europe w\here they are up in arms against their own regimes and have been extracting benefits from the European Union. There are many clauses of the WTO that are unequal for the developing\ countries. The demand also came alongside the WTO’s three day ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi that concluded on Thursday,” Inderjit Singh who is a SKM leader from Haryana, said.

He told The Citizen that “The WTO pinch is being felt more now in the face of the deepening agrarian crisis. For example the import of oilseeds in the name of liberalisation has led to the crashing of mustard prices. The very term liberalisation itself is very deceptive when it comes to the interests of the farmers.”

It is accepted that the struggle on WTO needs to be broad based, and sustained, including other sections of the society as well since the WTO impacts several sectors of the economy including trade and industry as well.

During the February 23 protest the farmers’ leaders blamed Union Home minister Amit Shah for conspiring to unleash severe repression on Punjab farmers in an attempt to isolate Punjab and make electoral use of this in the rest of the country.

The statement alleged that, “Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Home Minister Anil Vij illegally and unconstitutionally sent forces across the state border to fire bullets, pellets, tear gas shells and damage hundreds of farmers' tractors standing there. Thereafter they commanded farmers not to bring tractors on roads in a posture of fascist demolition of farmers’ property, akin to bulldozer Raj being practiced elsewhere. It is to protest this anti-farmer assault that SKM parked tractors on the road and held protest meets.”

The SKM leaders explained that the MSP legal guarantee at a profitable rate of C2+50% and cheap ration are twin needs for survival of peasantry and working population of India. “The government policy, shrouded in religious camouflage, is promoting foreign capital and big corporations in agriculture, increasing input prices, decreasing crop sale prices, controlling food supply chain and taking over land and water resources and thus ruining peasant economy,” they said while adding that the government is not only implementing ‘anti people policy’ but it is bent upon ‘fascist repression of people to serve profit needs of rich exploiters’.

The SKM had observed ‘Aakrosh Diwas’ or ‘Black Day’ on February 23 to express their anger over the alleged ‘murder’ of young farmer Shubhkaran Singh at Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana by the Police force from the latter state. This was marked by the farmers and workers burning effigies of Amit Shah, Khattar and Vij in the villages and towns. A large number of women and youth had also participated in the protest.

While welcoming the decision of the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab to give Rs 1 crore and employment to a family member of the deceased, it joined the chorus of opposition parties in Punjab demanding “an FIR under section 302 of Indian Penal Code against the Amit Shah, Khattar and Vij along with the police and revenue officers responsible for state repression and death of the farmer”. It also sought judicial enquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the firing and the damage caused to tractors.

It has objected to the statement by PM Narendra Modi during his one day visit to Gujarat on February 23 that his “focus is on improving the lives of small farmers” and the larger prosperity of the rural economy. The farmers said that they are “aware of the much peddled ‘Modi’s guarantees’ for his corporate friends’.

“For instance, during Modi rule, the tax burden has shifted from corporates to the common people. Studies indicate that in the last 10 years, ‘personal income tax collections increased by 117% while corporate tax collections increased only by 28%’. Modi reduced corporate tax from 30% to 22% in 2019,” the SKM pointed out.

The farmers’ leaders added that, “The indices of terms of trade (ToT) - the ratio of the cost of input by farmers and the prices they receive for their output- between farmers and non farmers is lower than 100 which means the farmers are not making money. ToT was negative in 2004-05, but improved steadily over the next 6-7 years up to 102.95 in 2010-11. Since then, the ToT has turned negative and remained stagnant to 97.07 in 2021-22 means farming is a loss making occupation in the Amrit Kaal’ of Modi.”

They further contended that the recent data on tractor sales in India, an indication for rural economic health, reveals that in the first nine months of this fiscal there was a steep decline in tractor sales. “For instance, there is a decline of 33% in Maharashtra, 36% in Telangana and 21% in Karnataka. The jumla on ‘doubling of farmers’ income’ is increasingly getting exposed” they stated.

“As far as the wages of agricultural workers is concerned, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data recently reveals the lowest paid wage in the country - Rs.241 per day is in Gujarat. If one anticipates 25 days work is available, which is not the reality- the monthly income is Rs 241x25, Rs. 6025 which is highly inadequate for a five member family to live under the current rate of inflation and price rise.

“SKM demands, before uttering ‘Modi’s Guarantee’ again he owes an explanation though he was three times chief minister and two time prime minister of the country, why Gujarat - the state he claims as the model for development- is unable to pay the minimum wage for a dignified life to its rural workers”.

Some disturbing facts about the plight of the farming community were shared by senior Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja on Thursday Kumari Selja when she referred to the various reports presented from time to time in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and the data from credible sources.

“This shows that about 52 % of the country's population is dependent on agriculture for employment and the share of agriculture in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 18 %. But, compared to other sectors, the condition of people associated with agriculture in the country is continuously worsening.

“Today every farmer family in the country is burdened with a debt of Rs 74121, whereas the average monthly income of a farmer family is only Rs 10218. The average size of farmers' household ownership holdings is also declining. Out of 9.31 crore farmer families in the country, 6.56 crore, i.e. more than 70 %, have less than 0.1 hectare of land. Only 0.4 % of farmer families in the country have more than 10 hectares of land," she said in a statement.

Selja said that the poor condition of farmers can be understood from the fact that each farmer family has an average of 0.876 hectares of land. Due to continuous debt burden, 114695 farmers have committed suicide between 2012 and 2022. That means 31 lives are being lost every day. Farmers are indebted to banks, government, cooperative societies and moneylenders and are not able to repay these loans on time.

The former Union Minister said that the farmers of Haryana come fourth in the country in terms of loans. That is, in the top four in terms of bad conditions. There are 19.06 lakh farmer families, out of which 9.06 lakh families are in debt, which is 47.5 % of the total farmer families. The average loan on these is Rs 1.82 lakh.

“Despite all this, the BJP-Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) coalition government of the state has not even once presented a report detailing the reality here to the BJP government at the centre. This shows that the double engine government is completely anti-farmer,” the statement read.

“The ‘experts’ and media editorials serving corporate interest are hell-bent on misinterpreting that legal guarantee for MSP for procurement of all crops could spell ‘fiscal disaster’. This argument is the logic of the corporate forces. The SKM and all the pro-people experts and scientists have reasoned that no MSP means human disaster - as the country is witnessing in the countryside today- filled with intensifying poverty, indebtedness, unemployment and price rise.

“The SKM desires to focus on the importance of protecting peasant agriculture for the staple food production mainly paddy and wheat by ensuring remunerative income and extending subsidies to reduce cost of production. Certain sections opine that crop diversification helps to address water level depreciation, the farmers’ movement is not against crop diversification per say but not by undermining staple food production, food security and thus, the sovereignty of the country.

“The argument that the union government has to find Rs.11 lakh crores for providing MSP to farmers for all the 23 crops also is baseless since the legally guaranteed procurement does not mean the government has to pay and procure but to ensure the corporate forces share their profit with farmers as remunerative price and the union and state governments and the public sector abet the producer cooperatives and non-corporate private sector to undertake post harvesting operations of procurement, primary and secondary processing, storage and infrastructure building and branded marketing.

“This policy shift will bring employment generation, better price and wage to workers and farmers and more tax income to the state and union governments,” the SKM has contended.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet chaired by OM Modi has approved the proposal of the department of fertilisers for fixing the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for Kharif season, 2024 on phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers and inclusion of three new fertiliser grades under the NBS scheme. The tentative budgetary requirement for Kharif season 2024 would be approximately Rs. 24420 crores.

According to a government spokesperson, this will “ensure availability of fertilisers to farmers at subsidised, affordable and reasonable prices. It will also mean rationalisation of subsidies on P&K fertilisers in view of recent trends in the international prices of fertilisers and inputs. Besides, inclusion of three new grades in NBS will support in promoting balanced soil health and offer alternatives to the farmers to choose fertilisers fortified with micronutrients as per the soil requirement”.

The spokesperson stated, “The Government is making available 25 grades of P&K fertilisers to farmers at subsidised prices through fertiliser manufacturers or importers. The subsidy on P&K fertilisers is governed by the NBS Scheme with effect from 2010. In accordance with its farmer friendly approach, the government is committed to ensure the availability of P&K fertilisers to the farmers at affordable prices.”