Bhala Chandra Shadangi
In these difficult times, the Central government is pushing its neo-liberal policies in agriculture. The three ordinances promulgated in the name of safeguarding the interests of farmers and the agriculture sector are basically a triple murder of peasants, farm labourers and consumers in one go. These moves mean a hand-over of our farming sector to big corporates and this is likely to seriously jeopardize the interests of small farmers vis-à-vis their farm production, savings, agricultural wages and food prices.
These Cabinet decisions come at a time when, among other sectors, the agrarian distress is worsening. This is the time when our farmers require greater protection. However, the government steps will lead to an abandonment of procurement at a reasonable minimum support price. The net gainer would be the middlemen, traders and financial intermediaries who will squeeze the producer, the farmer, and the consumer. This is a recipe to destroy whatever of the public distribution system that is left.
It is strange that agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has described these ordinances as historic and aimed at ensuring the ‘real freedom’ for the farmers. He has stated that while the country got independence in 1947, the farmers had not. The decisions of successive governments, however limited they may have been, protected both the farmers and the food security of the country for many years. The aggressive pursuit of neoliberal reforms by the present government is threatening to bring back the days of ruthless exploitation of farmers under the British rule. The government steps may be of help to big landlords and big corporations.
For one, the government seeks to amend the Essential Commodities Act. The amendment will remove all regulations over the pricing and availability of key agricultural commodities essential for the country’s food security. These proposals pave the way for creation of artificial shortages due to speculation by middlemen and traders, adversely affecting the country’s food security. Further, these amendments, by removing all restrictions and providing a “barrier free inter-state and intra-state” sale of agricultural produce, would pave the way for contract farming. This would mean a promotion of trade and commerce outside the premises or markets covered under the Agricultural Produce Market Committees, or mandis.
Already, many states including Odisha have brought forward ordinances in line with the central government move to allow contract farming and abolish government control over agricultural market yards or mandis. The central government’s licences for electronic trading are likely to pave the way for speculative forward trading in all agricultural commodities. These could open the way for entry of big multinational agro-business firms and domestic corporates to India’s agricultural produce and markets.
The Essential Commodities law was brought forward to ensure the delivery of certain commodities or products. It has powers to control production, stocking, supply, distribution and sale at reasonable and fair prices. But the government has removed food grains, pulses, oilseeds, onions and potato from the ECA. This will allow giant companies to procure, hoard, process and sell these at monopoly prices and also export freely. With MSP rates becoming non-profitable, the procurement being reduced, FCI having a debt of `2.25 lakh crore, and plans under way for privatization, the government will neither have any security to supply food nor will it have any control over private companies and exports.
In the name of One Nation, One Market, the Central government has also promulgated the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, to allow a barrier free-trade in agricultural produce. This was also done in the name of giving freedom to farmers to sell their produce in other states at a higher price. But, instead of helping farmers, this will give freedom to big corporates engaged in agro-business to procure farm produce at a cheap price. Along with the proposed eNAMs, this will allow agro business companies a free access to buy produces at the cheapest rates, which will lower the general prices for crops at the time of harvest, a time when farmers need protection from private hawks.
In its third move, the government has brought forward the Farmers’ Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 to allow contract farming by big corporates. But, along with big corporates, it will ensure empowerment of landlords and middlemen and further undermine the share croppers, as also landless farm workers, who will be deprived of even the right to get land on rent and share. This entails pooling of land by a local, formation of farmer producer companies and a role of an aggregator who will aggregate land and crops to help in their sales. This will have an adverse impact on states like Odisha, where more than half its agricultural land is under share cropping and a majority of the agricultural workforce are either sharecroppers or small and marginal farmers.
There has been a continuous demand for recognizing the rights of the lakhs of poor share croppers. Even before the last assembly elections, the Odisha government has formed a ministerial committee to bring in legislation for ensuring the rights of lakhs of share croppers in the state. But, surprisingly, the state government, instead of safeguarding the interests of the sharecroppers, has simply betrayed them. The latest move will only safeguard the interests of big corporates at the cost of lakhs of small farmers and share croppers.
The neo-liberal policies being pursued by successive governments at the Centre have affected the procurement of agricultural produce through MSP and the distribution of foodgrains through PDS. Now, in the name of One Ration, One Nation, the Modi government apparently wants to convert this procurement into cash transfer scheme (DBT). If cash transfer is allowed instead of procuring foodgrains at MSP, crores of poor people will be forced to buy foodgrains from the market at a higher price. This will also go against the procurement of foodgrains from the farmers, pushing them to distress sale.
The recent MSP hike declared by the government is a façade. It hardly covers even the current increases in production costs. It is based only on paid-up costs and it ignores the actual labour costs, depreciation, land rent and debt costs as recommended by the MS Swaminathan Commission. It cleverly lowers the costing to show a high margin in profit. The increments are only three to five per cent over last year, hardly covering even the inflation rate.
Agriculture is a state subject under the Indian Constitution. The Union Cabinet has approved these ordinances without consulting the elected state governments. This, thus, is a gross violation of the Constitution. Even if the Parliament legislates on this, it must be subject to the approval of the state legislatures.
The writer is an activist with Leftist links in Odisha.