Government Outreach Fails to Enthuse Farmers

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Narendra Modi has begun its third term in office with farmer outreach attempts. But the farming community remains far from being enthused by these attempts of the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) machinery to spread narratives around this outreach.

The farmers have accused the government of “spreading lies, deceiving and betraying the peasantry on the crucial question of the minimum support price (MSP)”. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) that had led the farmers’ movement against the now withdrawn three controversial Farm Laws has announced a national level meeting on July 10 to announce the next phase of their protests.

The SKM had carried out a ‘Punish BJP’ campaign during the just concluded Lok Sabha polls which had an impact on the poll outcome in states like Punjab, Haryana, parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.

The fresh round of farmers’ outreach by the government began immediately after PM Modi’s swearing in. A government spokesperson announced, “After being sworn in as Prime Minister for the 3rd time, PM Narendra Modi signs his first file authorising release of the 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi. This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20,000 crores.”

After signing the file, Modi said “Ours is a government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come.”

This was followed by the announcement of MSP for 14 kharif crops for the marketing season 2024-25. A government spokesperson said, “The increase in MSP for kharif crops for marketing season 2024-25 is in line with the union budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production.

“The expected margin to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of bajra (77%) followed by tur (59%), maize (54%) and urad (52%). For the rest of the crops, the margin to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at 50%.”

The statement added, “In the recent years, the government has been promoting the cultivation of crops, other than cereals such as pulses and oilseeds, and Nutri-cereals / Shree Anna, by offering a higher MSP for these crops.

“During the period 2003-04 to 2013-14 for 14 crops covered under Kharif Marketing Season, the minimum absolute increase in MSP was Rs.745/- per quintal for Bajra and maximum absolute increase was Rs.3,130 /- per quintal for Moong while during the period 2013-14 to 2023-24, the minimum absolute increase in MSP was Rs.780/- per quintal for Maize and maximum absolute increase was Rs.4,234/- per quintal for Nigerseed.

“During the period 2004-05 to 2013-14, the procurement of 14 crops covered under the Kharif Marketing Season was 4,675.98 Lakh Metric Ton (LMT) while during the period 2014-15 to 2023-24, procurement of these crops was 7,108.65 LMT.”

The SKM has responded saying that the MSP hike is only 5% to 7% above last year which is ‘complete mockery’ of the promise of granting MSP @ C2+50% (Swaminathan Commission formula). It has further claimed that the MSP is less than the rise in prices of food and is not even keeping pace with the market inflation of food prices. “While the annual retail inflation is around 5%, food prices inflation is 7.9% and vegetable prices increase by more than 10%,” it said.

The SKM has contended that, “Even while declaring this pittance of increase in MSP, the government has made no announcement to guarantee purchase in Mandis even at this price. Unless the government institutes some mechanism to guarantee the prices in the Mandis, the farmers are fleeced and it is the middlemen who benefit from costly food in the market.”

Questions have also been raised on the MSP estimation. An example given is of paddy where the declared MSP for paddy at Rs 2300 per quintal is just about equal to the actual cost of production as per estimates made in several states.

The SKM stated, “While the BJP itself has promised an MSP of Rs 3100 per quintal for paddy in Odisha during state elections and a similar amount last year during Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh elections, it has recommended Rs 2300. It is also shamelessly claiming that the Prime Minister is giving importance to farmers.

“This is only to help the big corporate houses and foreign exploiter multinational corporations that are rooting for Indian agriculture markets for cheaper produce and off season supplies to the West.

“The BJP has been notorious in its mocking at farmers' demand for raising MSP for all crops as per Swaminathan Commission recommendations. Though recently it has given Bharat Ratna to Dr. Swaminathan, it is grossly manipulating the figures to severely under-state the price. Earlier it had clearly stated in the Supreme Court that giving MSP will distort the market which it will not allow, even while it had promised an MSP of C2+50% within a year of winning the 2014 elections.

“Increased losses to farmers are resulting from fleecing the farmers by both the companies and the government. While companies continuously increase prices of inputs - seeds, fertilisers, insecticides and farm equipment, the government charges the maximum rate of 18 % to 28% goods and services tax (GST) on them.

“This is resulting in an increase in farmer suicides. Recent Household Income Expenditure data of NSSO has shown that the average expenditure of landed farmers has come down below average rural expenditure,” the SKM has claimed.

It has also been contended that the government support in the form of direct benefit transfer scheme, as in the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN) only gives token benefit to the landed farmers who are varyingly given Rs 6000 per year, whatever their ownership while sharecroppers accounting for more than 40% do not benefit.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha-non Political, and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have announced that a memorandum of demands of the farmers will be submitted to the MPs of all parties of the country except the 240 MPs of the BJP on July 8, so that all the demands of the peasantry including an MSP guarantee law echo in the Parliament.

The cadres of these organisations continue to camp at Punjab and Haryana borders after their ‘Delhi Chalo’ push was halted there by the Haryana government.

Responding to the narratives of holding the farmers responsible for the road blocks and these blockages resulting in economic losses to other sectors, they said, “The whole country knows that the National Highway has been closed not by the farmers but by the BJP government and it is the responsibility of the central government to open the way and allow the farmers to protest peacefully in the capital of their country,”

It needs to be underlined that the peasantry will hold the key to the Assembly polls in Haryana scheduled to be held a few months from now. The opposition parties including the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) have been persistently attacking the BJP government in power over the farmers’ issues.

In Punjab also the political parties other than the BJP are playing up the farmers’ issues as by-polls to five assembly seats are due after the Lok Sabha polls. The first by-poll is on Jalandhar (west) seat on July 10 where the sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Sheetal Angural jumped fence towards the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

After the recent announcement of the MSP on 14 kharif crops, AAP spokesperson Harsukhinder Singh Babbi Badal said the cost of agriculture has increased by about 70 % in the last several years and the Modi government is patting its own back by increasing the MSP by only 7 %.

Badal said the Union Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal himself has said that 83 % crops are sold at prices lower than the MSP and in many states crops are not purchased at MSP. Therefore, this increase in MSP is 'too little and too late'.

Attacking the BJP led central government for failing to legalise the MSP, senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa has also taken on the Bhagwant Mann led AAP government in Punjab for letting down the farmers.

Stating that it is high time PM Modi fulfilled his promise to provide a legal guarantee of MSP, Bajwa attacked the Punjab government for its ‘dilly-dallying approach’ to clearing the slit accumulated in the water channels, drainages and strengthening the embankments after the flood fury of last year.

“It was particularly the farmers, who have been at the receiving end during the 2023 floods. Lakhs of acres of paddy and other crops were damaged. Apart from this livestock in big numbers succumbed to the floods. Despite repeated promises and assurances by the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the farmers did not get the compensation,” Bajwa said.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has called for adopting a scientific approach towards fixing MSP for all crops. He asserted that the ‘marginal increase’ in the MSP for paddy by Rs 117 per quintal did not take into account the comprehensive cost plus 50% profit as mandated by the union government and the Swaminathan Commission.

He added that though the MSP of both moong and maize has been increased, no mechanism is in place to procure these crops on MSP. “Farmers in Punjab as well as elsewhere in the country have been left to the mercy of private players because the union government is not procuring these crops on MSP.

“In case of Punjab farmers bore huge losses after their sowed moong over a huge area following an appeal by chief minister Bhagwant Mann that the same would be procured on MSP but the government reneged on its promise,” Badal said.

Badal has advocated that a committee be formed to calculate the C2 plus 50 % profit figure for all 14 kharif crops and this committee should include farmer representatives.

Making a strong case for calculating the true cost of production accurately, he said, “Till this is not done the agriculture sector will continue to face an economic crisis and the Prime Minister’s stated objective of doubling farmer incomes by the end of this year will not be achieved.”