Uplift the farming community or just forget Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas

Farmers are not protesting for entertainment or are drawing any sadistic pleasure from protests. In fact, it is time their genuine demands are heard, and efforts are made to resolve them. We cannot expect them to take to streets every now and then. Farmers are somehow surviving at the bottom of the pyramid

At a time when misinformation campaign is at its peak, I don’t know from where to begin. Not only mainstream media, even the social media is full of abuses, slander and loads of insults that are being heaped against the protesting farmers.

It looks as if the farmer has suddenly turned into a villain. Once reverred as the nation’s hero – Hero Number 1, to use the popular Bollywood film title – they are now treated with scorn and the hidden contempt against farmers is out in the open. Much of it is because of the misinformation campaign that the media continues to blare.

If I am not wrong, journalists tell me that this vilified campaign is largely based on unsigned notes that circulate in the media WhatsApp groups. Screenshots of such notes have been doing the round on social media.

Talking about the mainstream media, the other day, I confronted a panellist, who is part of the committee that has been set up to look into how to make MSP more effective. We were on a TV show discussing the relevance of the farmers’ demand for making MSP a legal right. What shocked me was the rudeness with which he responded, so much so that he ended up calling farmers as ‘anti-nationals’.

Knowing their position being strongly anti-farmer, I don’t know why such people are first nominated to the MSP committee. Not to cast aspersions on the other members, what I think is that while deciding the composition of such important committees, policy makers should be careful in picking up members who don’t carry an inherent bias.

I have often been asked to respond to questions that are being raised in the media interviews and discussions. For instance, when asked that a TV anchor was saying that food inflation will jump by 25 per cent if farmers were given the legal right for MSP, my reply was that we should be grateful to this enlightened journalist that he didn’t say that inflation will go up by 150 per cent. He could have said so knowing that whatever he says will go unquestioned. To another question that a legal MSP to farmers will entail an additional expenditure of Rs. 10 lakh crore, which the country cannot afford, I wanted to know the source of this compilation, and secondly why the fear about raising MSP for farmers.

So far, out of the 23 crops for which MSP is announced, it is effectively used for two crops – wheat and paddy – and to some extent for cotton and pulses, and that too in some States. Parliament has been recently informed that 14 per cent farmers in the country get MSP, which means 86 per cent farmers are dependent on the markets. If markets were so benevolent I don’t see any reason why farmers should be protesting, knowing that they will end up facing police repression. Farmers are not protesting for entertainment or are drawing any sadistic pleasure from protests. In fact, it is time their genuine demands are heard, and efforts are made to resolve them. We cannot expect them to take to streets every now and then.

Farmers are somehow surviving at the bottom of the pyramid.

Here let me recall the findings of the latest Situational Assessment Survey for Agricultural Households. The latest report shows that the average income of farming households is Rs. 10,218. If we do not include income from non-farming activities, what farmers earn is an average of Rs. 27 per day. Such a low income from farming is indicative of the levels of poverty that prevails in the farming sector. And, in any case, to meet the Prime Ministers vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, it is essential to economically lift the farming community. After all, nearly 50 per cent of the population – close to 700 million – is dependent on agriculture and policy makers need to understand that while moving towards a growth trajectory heading to a $5 trillion economy, the majority population cannot be left behind.

What the farmers are essentially asking is to provide a legal guarantee for MSP, and to integrate it with Swaminathan’s recommendation of C2+50 formula. This will ensure economic justice for farmers, and provide a ray of hope for the beleaguered community. Providing a higher and assured income to farmers will not be a burden on the country but will in fact lead to a higher economic growth. More money in the hands of farmers, and as I said earlier comprise 86 per cent farmers who do not get MSP, will surely stand to gain.

More money in the hands of farmers means they will have more money to spend in the markets. The demand that will be created will be huge and will drive the wheels of development faster. This will result in a higher economic growth.

The 7th Pay commission, which benefitted about four to five 5 per cent of the population, was seen as a booster dose for the economy. Imagine what will happen if 50 per cent population spends more-well it will be a rocket dose for the economy.

Instead of realising the growth potential from legalising the MSP, economists and the media are blinded by the so-called efficiency of the markets. If markets were so efficient, I see no reason why farmers all over the world are deep in crisis.

To illustrate this point, I must state that the rate of suicides in rural America is 3.5 times higher than the national average.

In Europe, farmers protests have been seen in 17 countries in the month of January, and protests are continuing in Spain, Poland and Italy. The primary demand in Europe too is for an assured price for agricultural produce.

This is exactly what protesting farmers in India are demanding. Like in Europe, Indian farmers do not want the government to procure everything. They want MSP to become a benchmark below which no trading takes place.

To toss around imaginative figures that the government will have to entail is simply aimed at creating a fear-psychosis. It happened earlier when the National Food Security Act was brought, which promised cheaper ration for the poor and hungry. The cry that any move to legalise MSP will distort markets is essentially to protect the corporate interests. After all, agriculture provides raw material for the industry. If farm prices go up, industry fears that its profits will be squeezed.

Just to ensure a higher profit margin for the companies, India cannot keep a large section of its farmers perpetually in penury.

It’s time to take a call – whether we want to keep markets intact or pull farmers out of the worsening agrarian crisis.

(The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)