For farmers, it’s a summer of discontent
Simmering for years, their anger has boiled over and ignited a fire that could spread quickly, writes Sanjeeb Mukherjee
Simmering for years, their anger has boiled over and ignited a fire that could spread quickly, writes SANJEEB MUKHERJEE
Prakash Jawle is no ordinary man. He is one among the millions of farmers across Madhya Pradesh whose achievements were prominently displayed by the state during a presentation that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made in April before the governing council of NITI Aayog.
Jawle, who is a resident of Haldepur village in the Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh, the presentation claimed, had managed to raise his net income from each acre by a mindboggling 43 per cent over the last few years.
On any other day, Jawle would have been the most sought-after farmer in Madhya Pradesh, but unfortunately all attempts by Business Standard to reach him on the number mentioned in the presentation failed as his mobile phone was switched off.
Jawle, if the state administration is to be believed, is no fictitious farmer. But if the events unfolding over the last fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are any indication, farmers like Jawle look like characters emerging straight out of a comic book.
After protesting for more than a week, the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh turned violent when the police opened fire on a group of protesters in Pipliyamandi area, almost 15 kms from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. The protesters were demanding better price for their produce, as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee report, and also a loan waiver on the lines of Uttar Pradesh. Five people were killed in the police firing on June 6, while another farmer died a few days later.
The locals say the conflict between traders and farmers turned violent when the police sided with the former to attack the protesting farmers. The role of the local administration and what actually triggered the bloody conflict will now be probed by a retired judge of the High Court. Deep-rooted problems Meanwhile, after more than a week under curfew, situation is gradually returning to normal in many parts of Mandsaur, including in Pipliyamandi, the epicentre of the conflict.
Yet beneath the uneasy calm lies the stark reality of unmitigated economic hardship. Prices of major crops grown in the region have virtually collapsed in the last few years, leaving farmers in deep debt.
This coupled with the absence of ready cash from mandis, as traders now make payments in cheques and via electronic payment systems, brought their anguish to a boil.
Dinesh Patidar, who lost his young son, Abhishek, in the firing on June 6, told this correspondent that he sold off his farm land in February this year to clear a pending loan of ~500,000 taken from the district cooperative bank.
“The traders pay us in cheque after demonetisation, but banks don’t make payment in time, they treat us as untouchables and sometimes even deduct the interest due on loans taken before giving us the amount,” said Mahendra Patidar, a local leader.
“None of the major produce grown in Mandsaur and its adjoining regions, including Indore, has fetched farmers even basic returns in recent years, while costs have risen,” he added.
At the wholesale market in Indore, one of the biggest in the region, figures from Agmarket.nic.in show that the wholesale rate for garlic has slumped by almost 65 per cent; onion by 67 per cent; tomatoes by 85 per cent; and potatoes by 52 per cent over the last year. Prices of Soybean, which is one of the mainstays in the region, has slumped by almost 25 per cent.
In short, the entire economy of the Malwa region, which is largely based on soybean, wheat, onions, garlic and tomatoes, collapsed over the past year, driving farmers to the brink.
The state administration, meanwhile, remained oblivious to the simmering discontent. “Last year, the state had purchased onions at ~6 per kg from farmers. This year, they have decided to purchase at ~8 per kg after the agitation. Why can’t this have been planned and executed properly in advance?” said Madhya Pradesh’s former director of agriculture , G S Kaushal.
Policies implemented by the Centre and the state government, touted as beneficial to farmers, simply didn’t have any impact on the ground. “The state claims that farmers get electricity six hours a day, but we get that at odd-hours, so how we can make the best use of it?” said A P Goswami, a local farmer.
According to a working paper on the state’s agriculture prepared by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) in April, between 2010-11 and 2013-14, Madhya Pradesh’s position in the country’s vegetable production jumped nine places to fourth, after West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The state’s share of the country’s overall vegetable production rose from 2.8 per cent to 7.4 per cent. The productivity of vegetables in Madhya Pradesh was estimated at 20.4 tonnes per hectare, higher than the national average of 17.4 tonnes per hectare. Onions, potatoes and tomatoes are the three big vegetables grown in Madhya Pradesh.
The state’s rapid progress in horticulture, though, has turned out to be its biggest bane, with farmers not even getting their basic return on investments. It is here that Madhya Pradesh’s policies and announcements failed to keep pace with the ground reality. Factions emerge Among the many farmers’ groups which spearheaded the agitation in the state, the biggest and the most vocal was the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh (RKMS), led by the 66-year-old former RSS worker and President of the state unit of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, Shiv Kumar Sharma , popularly known as Kakkaji .
Kakkaji, was the main face of the agitation that started in Madhya Pradesh on June 1. A leading voice of farmers, Kakkaji’s network includes many small farmers groups spread across 91 districts in the country, but he has his strongest base in Madhya Pradesh.
One of the many missteps in handling the 10-day agitation, according to experts, was the state administration’s decision to enter into an agreement with Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) to bring the agitation to an end.
RKMS, which had been spearheading the agitation in the state, termed the agreement as a “stab in the back” and went on to declare a state-wide bandh in protest. The farmer’s groups led by Kakkaji have now decided to intensify their agitation and take their movement to other states such as Haryana and Rajasthan in the coming weeks.
Clearly, events in Mandsaur have ignited a fire that could spread quickly.
The state’s rapid progress in horticulture has turned out to be its biggest bane, with farmers not even getting their basic return on investments