An Indian farmer, Jaswinder Singh Gul, lives in a house built by his grandfather years ago. Jaswinder Singh is one of the millions of Indian farmers today worried about their future as economic catastrophe nears. Gul, a mechanical engineer by profession, had invested what he had earned in 20 years, in his family’s 40-acre farm in Indian Punjab. His village is a few miles from the Pakistan border. His land is a bit sandy, but he harvested a good rice crop for the last 15 years with the help of generous government subsidies to farmers.
There were strange dreams in his eyes that like him, his son and daughter, the sixth generation of this family, would also work hard in these fields and earn their livelihood. Then, suddenly, his farm underwent a dramatic change. BJP PM Narendra Modi’s government introduced new laws for farmers last year. Under them, the government’s role in the Agriculture Department has been severely limited. The laws’ main purpose was to implement a new system in a country where a plentiful crop of paddy was grown but its citizens were still forced to eat substandard and malnourished food.
Why have Indian farmers been protesting against those laws for the last several months? Because they can darken the future of Jaswinder Singh, and millions of farmers like him. India’s agricultural commodity markets are controlled by the government, but once these laws are enacted, the government’s role in running them will be greatly diminished. Farmers fear that that reduced role will be a major blow to the prices of the crops they produce, as the government gives them a hefty subsidy on the prices of their crops, making agriculture a lucrative occupation.
If the government withdraws from subsidizing agricultural crops, the livelihoods of millions of farmers who depend on these lands and fields will be jeopardized. They are convinced that the government is planning to give them as hostages to the corporate sector. Jaswinder, 56, does not know what could happen to him in the coming days. He asked what else could a person do in his age group? The fire PM Modi has set across the country through these new laws is proving the biggest and most difficult challenge of his rule. Thousands of farmers have been protesting outside New Delhi for the past four months. They are from Punjab and other states, India’s largest agricultural producers. Many farmers have also gone to the Indian Supreme Court, which has suspended them and ordered the government to take steps to resolve the issue. The government is using all possible means to sabotage the protest. It has removed the Internet facility to cut off protesters’ access, trying to stifle online criticism.
Now the issue is that the farmers are continuing their protest and the government is standing firm. What is the real cause? That is the subsidy on agricultural commodities. The government, economists and farmers agree support prices will end once these laws come into force. The government acted hastily to end the subsidy and immediately used its power to get these laws passed. Farmers say that after the implementation of these laws, the entire country’s agriculture will be destroyed, although the majority in Indian villages is engaged in agriculture. Devendra Sharma, an independent economist in Chandigarh, says, “India is in dire need of change in the agricultural sector, but it cannot be done.”
At present, the total population of India is 1.3 billion, of which 60 percent depends on agriculture, while the agricultural sector accounts for 11 percent of total economic activity.For the majority of rural people, there is no other option for employment. Official figures show that the manufacturing sector has shrunk slightly since 2012, while the workforce has increased. “Our hard-working non-agricultural workforce is growing rapidly, and everyone is looking for a job,” says Jyan Jose Thomas, an economist at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
The current system is obsolete. It was introduced in the 1960s to avoid famine, encouraging farmers to grow rice and wheat. The government had set a minimum selling price so they could make a profit by selling whatever they produce. “Work hard and get as much produce as you can,” Jaswinder Singh said, citing government instructions.
The government had given full guarantee it would pick up every single grain produced. In government-sponsored markets, crop prices were set. Here the farmer and the buyer meet. Grain is dried, stored and sold here. The proceeds from the fees are spent on rural infrastructure projects, farmer’s pensions and other programmes that provide free advice to farmers on seeds and fertilizers.
