3 Years of Betrayal of the Peasantry: Modi Rule Taking Agriculture on Corporate Path
No remunerative price, no solution to debt trap, peasant suicides, and migration
PM Fasal Bima Yojana is a flop and plunder of public fund.
Land Acquisition Ordinance, ban on cattle trade are colossal attack on the peasantry
The three years of NDA Government has disillusioned the peasantry all over the country. The expectation that the Prime Minister will alter the economic policy of the earlier UPA government to resolve the enduring agrarian crisis has been proved wrong.
The infamous Land Acquisition Ordinance 2015 though kept in abeyance due to massive resistance later, exposed the pro- corporate face of the NDA Government. In 2015-16, first time in the history of the country, the NDA Government allowed FDI in agriculture and retail trade. In 2016-17, E-Marketing was announced to link the Agriculture Produces Marketing Committees (APMC) all over the country for facilitating cheap procurement by corporate traders and agro industrialists. In 2017-18, The Government has announced that it will bring Model Contract Farming Act to be adopted by all States. Obviously, the direction of the NDA Government is pushing agriculture on the disastrous corporate path while farmers continue to remain in acute distress.
The tallest promise of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha election was ensuring market price of 50% profit over expenditure on all crops. The Prime Minister totally failed on this promise. Against its own election promise an affidavit was filed in the Supreme Court clearly stating that C2+50% cannot be given. It also issued a Government Order threatening that procurement would be banned from states providing bonus over and above the MSP fixed by the Central Government on the pretext that it was “market distorting”. The farmers were compelled to throw their produces on the street since they are not getting even the cost of production. Actually the farmers are getting fewer prices than what they were enjoying earlier. The chilli farmers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Onion Farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Rubber Farmers in Kerala, Potato Farmers in West Bengal, and Sugar Cane Farmers in Karnataka, Vegetable Farmers in Chhattisgarh were on streets to struggle against the price crash.
The Flagship programme of the NDA Government, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has become a total flop since it has given only 3.31 % of the premium collected in 2016-17 by Insurance Companies which was as high as Rs.21, 500 crores. Out of the total claims of Rs.4, 270.55 crores in Kharif 2016 only claims of Rs.714.14 crores have been disbursed by insurance companies till date. In the name of settling arrears the finance Minister has allocated Rs 13,200 crore against the estimated amount of Rs 5500 crore in the 2016-17 Budget. The private insurers have plundered the public fund under the crop insurance scam and AIKS demands a judicial inquiry into the matter.
Nothing has been done to stop farmers’ suicides which are continuing unabated.. BJP ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, accounted for 6,535 (51.85%) of all farmer suicides. Overall states ruled by BJP-led NDA accounted for 7,723 suicides (61.28%). The disruptive consequences of demonetisation led to a further fall in incomes, threatened agricultural production and created uncertainty about any revival of agricultural growth.
The Centre is systematically dismantling the MGNREGA and starving it of funds in a deliberate manner. In 2016-2017, wages amounting to staggering 20,000 crores rupees were not paid on time, ranging from delays of three weeks to over six months. Shockingly over 2000 crores rupees of wage payments for last year have still not been given to the workers.
The Government decided to arbitrarily bring the Import duty of wheat to zero from an earlier 25 percent. This has led to dumping of wheat at rates far below even the MSP. It opened the gates just ahead of the winter wheat crop to help agri-businesses rake in super profits by dumping wheat from abroad. It is estimated that overseas purchase would be the highest in a decade. The move will have a catastrophic effect on Indian farmers given the fact that global wheat prices are seeing a decline. The big players in the wheat flour market like Cargill, ITC, Adani-Wilmar, Reliance and such groups have been demanding withdrawal of import duties and this move is to suit their interests.
The latest attack on the peasantry is ban on the farmer’s age–old right on cattle trade. The Animal Husbandry provides 7.65% of the GDP and 26% of the agrarian GDP. 48.5 % 0f the land owners who have below one hector land owns only 24 % of the total cultivating land but owns 50% of the animal wealth. This section will be the hardest hit out of the ban on cattle trade. This is a move to destroy petty production and enforce contract farming under corporate companies in dairy and meat processing sector. AIKS will be approaching the Supreme Court against the attack on farmers’ livelihoods. The AIKS along with the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan will mobilise the dairy farmers and cattle breeders all over the country against this draconian attack on the peasantry.
Sd/-
Amra Ram, President
Hannan Mollah, General Secretary
2nd June, 2017
