, ?|| Modi on Farm Bills, Bihar Experience ||
The central government has been carrying out a campaign led by Prime Minister Modi himself that the three new farm laws will remove middlemen, ensure better prices for farmers produce and generally improve the condition of Indias vast agrarian community. The laws have been described as a new dawn, a revolution, etc. Faced by a strong farmers movement against these laws, the BJP and its supporters have tried various tactics to first discredit it (by calling participants Khalistani supporters or even not being genuine farmers), and then self-righteously claiming that farmers were being misled by Opposition parties. When farmers started heading towards Delhi, the BJP-led Haryana government was asked to stop them at any cost, which they tried but ignominiously failed at. PM Modi finally opted for the usual melodramatic swearing by the Holy Ganga that his intentions were pure, and that he only wanted to help the farmers.
Since the protest movement continued to grow through all this drama, and thousands of farmers are currently camped on highways entering Delhi, the Modi government has, for the first time, been forced to negotiate with an ongoing mass protest. This is a novel experience for them, and it speaks of the extent to which the government is rattled that they were forced to the table, kicking and screaming, so to speak. After much buzzing around between various bigwigs of the government, the meeting between farmers representatives and two ministers of the Modi Govt. was held on December 1. The rank immaturity and arrogance of the government became clear because all they had to offer was a committee to consider all aspects, which was laughed out of the room by the farmers. They also asked the farmers to give clause by clause objections to the laws. Clearly, the government is buying time, because its bottom line is still this: the laws will not be repealed, which is the single demand of the farmers.
While another round of talks is fixed for December 3, the BJP propaganda about the benefits of these laws continues unabated through mainstream media and through social media channels. What the Modi government refuses to see or believe is that the farmers are not misled or under any misapprehensions. They know what these laws mean, and for them, it is a matter of life and death.
All reports suggest that farmers invariably sell their produce below the fixed MSP. In 2019-20, MSP was for rice was fixed at Rs 1,815 per quintal but farmers were forced to sell to traders at only Rs 1,350 to 1400 per quintal. For wheat, MSP was Rs 1,925 but farmers had to sell it at Rs 1,800 or even less. For maize, farmers reported getting a price of Rs 1,000-1,300 per quintal while the official MSP was fixed at Rs 1,850 in the current year.
According to reports, the number of government-run grain procurement centres had gone down from about 9,000 in 2015-16, to 1,619 in 2019-20. This was presumably done to allow big agri-business and food processing companies (like biscuit makers) to buy up the grain. Rather than getting higher prices, farmers are just selling to traders, who mostly offered prices below MSP. Unconcerned about low prices for farmers, the then deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi proudly said, It is (through a) direct marketing module approach that ITC, makers of Ashirwad flour, is procuring 2-3 lakh metric tonnes of wheat yearly directly from farmers.
Deregulated Fruit & Vegetable Markets
It is not just farmers producing wheat, paddy or maize etc. that suffer when the government deregulates agricultural commodity trade and allows market forces to rule. It was hoped that in Bihar the countrys third largest producer of fruits and vegetables (F&V) after Uttar Pradesh and W. Bengal the private sector would set up wholesale markets and cold-chain infrastructure. Nothing of the sort happened.
Click to access Final_report_of_Bihar_research_study.pdf
Click to access Bihar-Nov_Final_Rev-nov.pdf
https://www.newsclick.in/farmers-protest-have-a-look-at-facts-Mr-Modi
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, ?|| Modi on Farm Bills, Bihar Experience || The central government has been carrying out a campaign led by Prime Minister Modi himself that the three new farm laws will remove middlemen, ensure better prices for farmers produce and generally improve the condition of Indias vast agrarian community. The laws have been described as a new dawn, a revolution, etc. Faced by a strong farmers movement against these laws, the BJP and its supporters have tried various tactics to first discredit it (by calling participants Khalistani supporters or even not being genuine farmers), and then self-righteously claiming that farmers were being misled by Opposition parties. When farmers started heading towards Delhi, the BJP-led Haryana government was asked to stop them at any cost, which they tried but ignominiously failed at. PM Modi finally opted for the usual melodramatic swearing by the Holy Ganga that his intentions were pure, and that he only wanted to help the farmers. Since the protest movement continued to grow through all this drama, and thousands of farmers are currently camped on highways entering Delhi, the Modi government has, for the first time, been forced to negotiate with an ongoing mass protest. This is a novel experience for them, and it speaks of the extent to which the government is rattled that they were forced to the table, kicking and screaming, so to speak. After much buzzing around between various bigwigs of the government, the meeting between farmers representatives and two ministers of the Modi Govt. was held on December 1. The rank immaturity and arrogance of the government became clear because all they had to offer was a committee to consider all aspects, which was laughed out of the room by the farmers. They also asked the farmers to give clause by clause objections to the laws. Clearly, the government is buying time, because its bottom line is still this: the laws will not be repealed, which is the single demand of the farmers. While another round of talks is fixed for December 3, the BJP propaganda about the benefits of these laws continues unabated through mainstream media and through social media channels. What the Modi government refuses to see or believe is that the farmers are not misled or under any misapprehensions. They know what these laws mean, and for them, it is a matter of life and death. All reports suggest that farmers invariably sell their produce below the fixed MSP. In 2019-20, MSP was for rice was fixed at Rs 1,815 per quintal but farmers were forced to sell to traders at only Rs 1,350 to 1400 per quintal. For wheat, MSP was Rs 1,925 but farmers had to sell it at Rs 1,800 or even less. For maize, farmers reported getting a price of Rs 1,000-1,300 per quintal while the official MSP was fixed at Rs 1,850 in the current year. According to reports, the number of government-run grain procurement centres had gone down from about 9,000 in 2015-16, to 1,619 in 2019-20. This was presumably done to allow big agri-business and food processing companies (like biscuit makers) to buy up the grain. Rather than getting higher prices, farmers are just selling to traders, who mostly offered prices below MSP. Unconcerned about low prices for farmers, the then deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi proudly said, It is (through a) direct marketing module approach that ITC, makers of Ashirwad flour, is procuring 2-3 lakh metric tonnes of wheat yearly directly from farmers. Deregulated Fruit & Vegetable Markets It is not just farmers producing wheat, paddy or maize etc. that suffer when the government deregulates agricultural commodity trade and allows market forces to rule. It was hoped that in Bihar the countrys third largest producer of fruits and vegetables (F&V) after Uttar Pradesh and W. Bengal the private sector would set up wholesale markets and cold-chain infrastructure. Nothing of the sort happened. https://www.ccsniam.gov.in/images/pdfs/Final_report_of_Bihar_research_study.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e58f1e0d3bf7f06ffcfec7d/Bihar-Nov_Final_Rev-nov.pdf https://www.newsclick.in/farmers-protest-have-a-look-at-facts-Mr-Modi