Farm bills, sifting the grain from the chaff

After two of the three contentious agriculture bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday by voice vote amid protests from the Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling it a “watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture”. Similar media and government hype followed the three ordinances in June, branding them transformational for the uplift of agriculture.

This rhetoric notwithstanding, most farmer organisations, barring a handful owing allegiance to the RSS and BJP, hit the streets in protest against the ordinances. Lathicharge and use of force on a peaceful assembly of farmers at Pipli near Kurukshetra recently was saddening and depressing in equal parts, exposing the repulsive face of the regime in Haryana.

Farmers’ anger is on the boil, forcing the BJP’S docile and loyal ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, to exit the Union cabinet, exposing the limits to which the attractive package of government propaganda and media hype can conceal hideous reality.

Dissent under lockdown

If eyebrows are being raised at the haste with which the Centre issued these ordinances in June during the lockdown without waiting for detailed deliberations or approval for these ordinances from Parliament, the worst was yet to come.

Unsure of its numbers, the ruling party was rescued by the fiat of the deputy chairman getting the farm bills rushed through the Rajya Sabha via a voice vote, short-circuiting the Opposition protests or pleas for a division of vote.

On a black Sunday, it appeared free discussion and dissent was under lockdown in our polity. By getting these farm bills passed by Parliament, the Centre has transgressed into the states’ domain of managing agriculture, which is on the concurrent list under the Constitution.

Government intent suspect

The two controversial farm bills deregulate the stipulation of farmers having to sell their crops in mandis designated under the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC)

Act, giving them liberty to sell their crops in agricultural trade areas. Corporate players can now buy farmers’ produce in these agri-trade areas, obviating the intermediary layer of arhtiyas/commission agents and APMC mandis. While mandis would continue to levy market fee, cess and other charges, all agricultural transactions in the agri-trade areas are exempt from such charges. Vesting of powers to resolve payment and other disputes with the local SDMS and revisionary/appellate jurisdiction with senior government officers under the new legislation, bypassing the judicial hierarchy, makes the government intent to ensure fairness of procedure suspect, as government officers have less autonomy as compared to judicial officers.

Spooked by Bihar experiment

An arhtiya acts as a non-formal bank, financing the farmer for family emergencies besides fending for sundry arrangements for crop such as weighing, cleaning, transporting and coordinating with procuring agencies. Instead of addressing the infirmities of the arhtiya system, dismantling the same without an alternative would be painful to all stakeholders.

Though the government maintains that the MSP regime would remain intact in mandis, it’s clear that on account of the huge tax differential between the mandis and new agri-trade areas, mandis will wither away in a short period. The farmers are spooked by a similar Bihar experiment in 2006, where farmers are exploited and fleeced by private businessmen with mandis out of the procurement equation.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, is an enabling legislation for facilitating contract farming. Past experience shows that in a surplus year when there is glut in supply of agricultural produce in markets, rates tend to nosedive below rates contracted between farmers and companies. Instead of honouring the contract and incurring loss, companies adopt the stratagem of nitpicking in quality such as moisture, lustre, and shrivelled grain, harassing farmers.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE GOVT’S HYPE BRANDING THE AS ORDINANCES TRANSFORMATIONAL, MOST FARMER ORGANISATIONS, BARRING A HANDFUL OWING ALLEGIANCE TO RSS AND BJP, HIT THE STREETS IN PROTEST

In interest of corporate sharks

Section 4 of the Essential Commodities Act has already been amended, deregulating stock limits on cereals, pulses, onions, potatoes, edible oil and oilseeds, except for dire situations of war, natural calamity or inordinate price rise.

It is feared that big corporate sharks will hoard these essential commodities on the arrival of crops, create artificial scarcity and sell at exorbitant rates later, hitting the average consumer the hardest.

Through the new agriculture legislation, the government has furthered the interests of corporate sharks at the cost of farmers, denying them statutorily guaranteed procurement of crops at the MSP.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has given an apt description of these black laws, calling them “death warrants against farmers”.