Agriculture is back on agenda

The just-concluded Kisan Mukti March/Sansad on November 30 was necessary for two reasons; one, to highlight the plight of the farmers and to stress the need for appropriate laws to mitigate their hardships. 

The second was to remove the scare among farmers, who were subjected to a brutal lathi charge ordered by the government on October 2, at the Delhi-UP border.     

The call was given by All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), formed in June, 2018. AIKSCC began with about 70 organisations and the number has now swelled up to 210, which has brought agriculture back on the centre stage.  

The encouragement came from the experience of the last 25 years wherein instead of the usual methods of agitation, the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) took recourse to the legal system by filing PILs in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court and got millions of farmers relief worth several thousands of crores. 

So after AIKSCC was formed, we decided to take the same route. Its members went through the length and breadth of the country, covered tens of thousands of kilometres, held over 500 meetings and found out, as expected, that the agony was similar.

All farmers are in debt because they have not even recovered their cost of production, as they have got prices much less than the minimum support price (MSP). Since debt is increasing with every passing crop, over 3.5 lakh farmers have committed suicides in the past 20 years and the number is going up. 

AIKSCC narrowed down the agrarian crisis to two immediate demands; one, freedom from debt and the other guaranteed remunerative MSP. 

The two are closely connected - if the issue of remunerative prices alone is tackled without providing relief from indebtedness, the increased returns will only go to pay back increasing loans. On the other hand, if only loan waivers are provided without addressing the issue of remunerative prices, farmers will again be pushed back into the debt trap. 

Therefore, AIKSCC decided to fulfil both demands through enactment of two Central legislations. The initial drafts were tabled in November 2017 at the Kisan Mukti Sansad at Parliament Street in New Delhi. Thereafter AIKSCC organized more than 200 consultations at the state and district level and the feedback from the grass roots was incorporated in the final versions of the bills. 

These bills, created and drafted for the first time by the farmers, were sent to political parties. AIKSCC held a Round Table in March, 2018, at the Constitution Club, New Delhi, where senior leaders of 21 parties signed the resolution in their support.

The bills were closely examined by the parties, who went through them clause by clause. Their final version was introduced in both Houses of Parliament three months ago. 

The first bill, ‘Freedom from debt’, ensures a onetime freedom for those who have failed to pay their debt and a refund for those who have paid their debt. The reasoning is simple: if government servants get dearness allowance and an increase in their pay with arrears from the date of recommendation by Pay Commissions, then how can farmers be deprived of the arrears of the difference between money paid and the money to be paid in terms of the Swaminathan report, wherein the recommended date was 2007? If the government is to pay arrears for 11 years, farmers will be entitled to twice their loan amount. Therefore the bill is freedom from debt and not a loan waiver. 

The second bill is guaranteed remunerative MSP, which ensures that no one can purchase for less than the minimum price, like in the case of diesel, fertilizer, electricity, pesticides and others.  

The MSP has to be calculated as per the Swaminathan Report, i.e comprehensive cost (C2), which includes input cost (A2) + family labour (FL) + rental of land and interest on capital and depreciation of equipment. 

MSP will apply to all crops, including milk, so as to help 85% of the farmers whose household needs are met through sale of milk. Milk is purchased from the farmer @ Rs 20-22 per litre, whereas the consumer pays 100% more. 
As the Parliament hardly functions and even the No Confidence Motion is not debated, AIKSCC met the President of India and requested him to convene a special session to discuss and pass the bills. Having got no response, AIKSCC decided to hold a Kisan Mukti March on November 29 and a Kisan Sansad on November 30, 2018, at New Delhi to pressurize the government.  

If a midnight special session can be convened for passing the GST bill, why exclude the farmers, who are in dire straits? While various sections of the society and political parties, including the NDA, are supporting the farmers, I wonder why the Prime Minister is not honouring his election commitment? Where is the hitch in passing the bills as the PM insists that most BJP states have waived the loans, also adding that he has given the MSP as per Swaminathan’s report. 

If that is correct, why not pass the legislation and adopt the private bills as official bills? AIKSCC, which is committed to reviving agriculture by making it profitable, now sees light at the end of the tunnel. I as the convenor of AIKSCC, have told the farmers that elections are round the corner, the iron is hot and you have to strike hard. 

Writer is the convener of AIKSCC