Arun Bajpai
Since December last year the weather in India especially in Northern region have been playing spoil sport. The unseasonal rains have spoiled crops worth thousands of crores. Large numbers of farmers have been forced to commit suicide. Even otherwise farmers not being able to bear the cost of rising inputs in agriculture sector are regularly committing suicides year after year. But what all our netas have done for them in last 68 years of independence is to give them lip service leaving them to fend for themselves. If course corrections are not done even now and agricultural reforms not implemented then this rural instability and lack of attention to agriculture will have negative ripple effect across entire Indian economy and will cause country very dear.
Recently Mrs Sonia Gandhi the Congress president led a march of netas of 14 opposition parties along with congress to show solidarity with the farmers against the amended Land Acquisition Bill recently promulgated by the ruling NDA Government. The bottom line of this march was that for the netas of these political parties their heart beats for the farmers, however the truth is that they could not care less. Actually this dictum applies to netas of all political parties of India.
Despite us now being 68 year old the 70 percent of Indians are still dependent on agriculture and reside in 600000 villages of India. Most of these villages lack basic facilities including toilets. There is hardly any agriculture and rural infrastructure available in these villages. Health care and education though depicted on paper are either nonexistent or function haphazardly. So what is surprising is that 70 percent of Indian population amounting to almost 105 crores in agriculture sector only contribute 15 percent to the GDP and Indian economy? In last 68 years agricultural progress has been stymied by warped policies and held hostage to vested interests among traders. Take the case of west Bengal whose Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee projects herself to be friend of farmers. Her decision to ban the interstate movement of agricultural products has killed even the traditional markets of west Bengal farmers outside the state. Potato crop is case in point.
All these unproductive and uncoordinated policies of both Centre and States Governments have forced framers to operate in artificially fragmented markets. They are left to deal with the entrenched monopolies of the traders in the agricultural markets. In India there is a strange dislike among netas for organised retail of agricultural products as also FDI in retail of major multinational firms like Wall mart and what have you. This results in lack of agricultural infrastructure like cold storages in sufficient numbers, thrashers and mechanised farming equipments, Air conditioned transport system for the agri produce, proper availability of branded fertilisers especially to small farmers as also irrigation system of sprinkling farming type. India which has abundance of renewable energy sources like solar energy and wind energy has yet to be harnessed them for agriculture in sufficient quantity. This lack of agri infrastructure is badly affecting Indian agricultural productivity. Approximately 66000 cores worth of fruit and vegetable produce gets destroyed in India due to non availability of food processing plants near the place of produce. So what did the Indian netas and the political parties do for the farmers for whom their hearts beats so violently? Worst off are those farmers who own just 2-3 acres of land, not sufficient to cater for their family needs. Their family members are forced to migrate to cities for search of alternate jobs. Most of them live in the city slums in worst conditions.
Lest this rural unrest take mega proportions especially so since most of the rural population of India is young, the Modi Government must reorient its agricultural spending priorities. Instead of current subsidy programmes for farmers the benefits of which hardly reach the farmers due to corruption in between the Modi Government must step up the investment in irrigation which will have a major positive effect on rural farming. There is a need to revive the old garland canal system by linking various rivers to each other. The states also must dismantle the farm trade barriers. The agriculture traders’ monopoly must be broken. Let the agri retail market get organised so that the farmers can sell their crop to the highest bidder directly. Indian political parties should stop shedding crocodile tears on farmer’s welfare issue and netas must frame policies to optimise Indian agri sector potential. Earlier it is done better for the country.
(The author is a Defence and Strategic Analyst)
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