As the MS Swaminathan report pointed out, immediate change in policy-making in essential to eradicate farmer woes. loan-waiver is a populist course of action adopted by the Centre and the State Governments, which is not beneficial
Father of Green revolution MS Swaminathan tweeted last week: “If agriculture goes wrong nothing else will go right. That’s why@AgriGoI should make farmers’ well being Centre of all programmes and policies.” The renowned agricultural expert took to the social media soon after the farmers in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, resorted to widespread arson, pressing for better price and loan waiver on June 1 after which five farmers were killed, and several injured.
The Swaminathan Committee’s report of 2006 had highlighted an unfinished agenda in land reform, quantity and quality of water, technology fatigue, access, adequacy and timeliness of institutional credit, and opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing as major causes of the agrarian crisis. It had also recommended that agriculture should be inserted in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and State-level farmers’ commission must be set up to deal with their problems. The BJP, before the 2014 general election, had promised that it would implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) on the payment of an increased minimum support price (MSP) to farmers.
The sad plight of the farmers has come under the focus once again with the recent farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere demanding better prices for their produce and waiving of agricultural loans. At New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, farmers from Tamil Nadu staged a protest, holding the skulls of farmers who had committed suicides in March.
The number of farmer suicides are also alarming. Top States for reporting these suicides are Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh. According to one estimate, every 30 minutes one farmer commits suicide. Over five lakh farmers have committed suicide since 1995. The latest National Crime Records Bureau’s data reveals, 80 per cent farmers who killed themselves had taken loans from banks and finance companies. According to data, 5,650 farmers committed suicide in 2014, and it went up to 8,007 in 2015 — with Maharashtra topping the list with 3,030 deaths.
The apex court too came into the picture recently when it said, “This issue is of extreme importance. Tentatively, we feel that you are going in the wrong direction. Farmers take loan from banks and when they are unable to repay, they commit suicide. The remedy to the problem is not to pay money to farmers after the suicide, but you should have schemes to prevent this. Farmers’ suicides have been happening for so many decades and it is surprising that no action has been taken to address the causes behind suicides.”
It is clear that agriculture is no more lucrative and farmers are moving to other fields. The population of farmers declined by 15 million (2,000 farmers lost per day) and most of them have been demoted to agricultural workers. The socio-economic caste census states that 74 per cent of rural families make less than Rs 5,000 a month and 90 per cent of rural families make less than Rs 10,000 a month.
There is also politics pertaining to the resolution of farmers’ problems. Farm-loan waiver is one of India’s most popular, often-used political tool. Political parties play lip service to their problems during the elections, promising them all kind of relief. Prime Minister VP Singh’s Government promised a waiver of loan up to Rs 10,000 for each farmer and came to power in 1989.
Similarly, the UPA Government returned to power in 2009, offering borrowers a bailout programme in which 37 million farmers benefited from waivers of Rs 522 billion. The Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi came to power in 2014, on the promise of a loan-waiver in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The first decision of the new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was to waive crop loans of up to one lakh rupees for small and marginal farmers in the State — a relief the party promised before the 2017 Assembly election. Telangana and Maharashtra too have now joined the loan-waiver relief list.
Chhattisgarh has offered interest-free loans to farmers. Farm loan waivers are only a “temporary necessity” and not a “permanent solution” to the problem, according to MS Swaminathan. It also results in financial deficit of State and Union Governments. Former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan observed in 2014, that such programmes ultimately constrained credit flow to the farmers who really need it.
Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley, during this year’s Budget speech, reiterated the Government’s resolve to help the farmers double their income in another four years. The measures suggested for doubling income include distribution of soil health cards, promotion of more crop per drop, increase in availability of credit, improved post-harvest processing and value addition and market reform.
What the farming community lacks is a visionary leader and a powerful movement. Gone are the days of Charan Singh, Mahendra Singh Tikait, Balram Jakhar, Sharad Joshi and other tall leaders who could speak for the community and influence policies. The Hardik Patels of today are no match. India is still one of the top producers in wheat, rice, and cotton, and has also became the world’s largest rice exporter in 2015 — exporting 10.23 million tonnes. It became a substantial exporter of wheat and maize in recent years. So, all is not lost if the Government addresses the concerns. Considering Swaminathan’s suggestion to move from ‘Green Revolution’ to ‘Evergreen Revolution’ is one option.
There is urgent need for the Centre and the States to address the concerns of farmers. The schemes devised should reach the intended beneficiaries.
(The writer is a senior political commentator and syndicated columnist)