Firing on farmers black mark for MP govt

The BJP has reason to be worried at the way the agitation by farmers seeking loan waiver is shaping up. Just when Maharashtra gave in to demands and quelled a rebellion by state farmers, the agitation in Madhya Pradesh on the same lines flared up, leading to at least five persons being killed and over a dozen being injured in Mandsaur district. While the farmers claimed that they had been fired upon by police and the CRPF, the State government insisted that the firing had not come from them but from unknown quarters from among the agitating farmers. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged that the farmers had been incited by Congressmen who have been supporting the farmers’ agitation and that anti-social elements and not the farmers had fired upon the agitators. The demands of the farmers included grant of loan waiver and a minimum support price for their farm produce. There was utter confusion prevailing as BJP state chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan contradicted the government saying that he saw shots being fired by the administration.

The current crisis appeared to have been triggered by a price crash in most crops, partly on account of bumper production and more so due to demonetisation-induced liquidity crunch in produce markets. Methi seed prices in Mandsaur, for instance, ruled at Rs 2,500-3,000 per quintal during the recent marketing season in March-April, compared to Rs 4,000-4,500 last year. The same goes for onions, which have traded at an average of Rs 450 per quintal in Nashik’s Lasalgaon market this rabi season, as against around Rs 800 last year. Grapes too fetched about Rs 15 per kg compared to Rs 50 plus last year, while soya bean has crashed from Rs 3,500-3,600 to Rs 2,700-2,800 per quintal. A similar price collapse story was also reported for red chilli in Andhra Pradesh. Farmers in Guntur and Kurnool — and Khammam in Telangana — went on the rampage, burnt their crops and blocked highways when prices fell to almost a quarter of last year’s Rs 12,000 per quintal levels.

Clearly, while Congress mischief may well be behind the agitation, the Chouhan government cannot escape responsibility for mismanaging the agitation first triggered by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). While the farmers in the State as in Maharashtra have been facing hardships, there is no denying that timely action would have helped defuse the agitation. It is now incumbent on the Chouhan government to listen to the farmers’ representatives and to devise a viable solution.