Has Indian Government Left Farmers At the Mercy of the Corporates?

Thanks, but No Thanks  – say the farmers to the government on Farm Bills 2020. 

Last week, Indian government has passed three legislations in the Lower House of Parliament during its Monsoon session of Parliament. Lok Sabha passed bills to replace the agricultural regulations.

These bills have drawn severe criticism from farmers across India. Soon after the bills were passed, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from her post. Protests have been very severe in northern states of India mainly Haryana and Punjab, the grain bowls of India.
So, what are these bills and why are farmers across India protesting against it?

Before these controversial bills, now conveniently abbreviated as farm bills, were passed, Indian farmers were governed by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, 1964. This act made it mandatory for farmers to sell their produce only through markets and mandis regulated by state government. These markets were controlled by state and operated by middlemen who would negotiate farmers produce with state-run companies or private sector.

The Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 intends to eliminate these middle men and allow farmers to sell their produce directly to private companies. The ruling party BJP thinks it will encourage private sector investments that would help farmers. The states are protesting against it as they will lose mandi fees or tax revenues gained through state run mandis and markets

So, why are farmers protesting when these farm bills 2020 are supposedly intended to ease up trading for them? The primary reason is because the bill doesn’t specify any regulations governing private sector. For years, Indian farmers have been crushed under debts garnered through agricultural loans provided by governments and their ability to repay due to unpredictable produce, weather conditions, disasters, crop destruction due to pests and animals, and now they are likely to bear a heavier burden. While the door of trading directly with the seller opens for the farmer, it also brings along an evil potential of the private buyer. Among many things, they also fear artificial price fluctuation caused due to legalizing the stockpiling of produce with the new bill, they fear the inability to differ with the price offered by the powerful private buyers, they fear they will be crushed under deceptively lucrative deals and agreements provided by corporate sector.

 

Imagine a small farmer entering into a lucrative deal to sell its produce to big corporation XYZ and there is a conflict. Would a small farmer with a small land holding stand any chance to fight it out against the big corporation? Would he be even able to gather fees to take up the case ? Even if he does, he would have to sell all his assets to pay for a fight that would only mean his defeat much less a chance of victory against the king pins.

If the ruling party really intends to help farmers and not just pretend to be fulfilling its election agenda of doubling farmer’s income then it has to ensure regulations for private sector that would prevent them from exploiting the farmers. Farmers needs to be ensured that there income would at least increase and if not doubled by setting a benchmark price at which private sector would buy their produce.

Indian agricultural sector employs around half of Indian population in the ins and outs of the agriculture industry and is a key contributor to Indian economy. Farmers are backbone of Indian agricultural sector and economy and they need to be cushioned without deception. One can’t help but be reminded of the song “yeh public hai sab jaanti hai..yeh public hai” from Rajesh Khanna’s 1974 movie Roti.