"Our protest is not over yet"
SHIV KUMAR SHARMA is the convener of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an association of 62 farmers organisations that has spearheaded the recent farmers' stir across India. He tells Down To Earth why Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's attempt
Was the movement successful? Our national demand is 50 per cent profit on our cost of production, guaranteed procurement of all produces, integrating support price with inflation and farm loan waiver. We also have 11 state-specific demands, which include minimum support price (MSP) of `12 for a kg of potato. Besides, in the aftermath of demonetisation, traders at the mandi were reluctant to pay farmers in cash. After the movement turned violent, the Madhya Pradesh government asked traders to make 50 per cent of the payment in cash, but backtracked under pressure from traders. Now, our demand is to make
the entire payment in cash. None of our demands have been accepted. But through the movement, farmers have sent out a strong message to the government. And remember, our protest is not over yet.
But the government did accept some of your demands. The government's acceptance of our demands seem half-hearted. Or else, why hasn't it issued any order to implement the announcement
the chief minister made soon after breaking his fast? He also announced to create a farmers' commission to look into ways to make farming profitable. The Centre sets up such commissions from time to time. India has seen six farmers' commissions since Independence. But they are nothing but advisory bodies. The recommendations of the last commission under M S Swaminathan are still in files. All the announcements are only to garner the media attention.
The chief minister also declared that purchasing below MSP is a criminal act. Your opinion. No one can beat him in telling lies. The state already has a law that says buying below MSP is a criminal act. But have you ever heard of any trader being booked under the law? It was enacted 20 years ago during Digvijay Singh's regime. Then it was implemented to some extent. But it remains useless under the current chief minister.
Traders always rule the mandi. They create a lobby to buy farm produce at a cheaper rate from farmers and then sell those in the retail market at a higher price.