Author: R. Balashankar
Publication: Organiser
Date: July 3, 2005
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=85&page=2
Introduction: In what capacity does
Sonia Gandhi announce largesses on behalf of the Central government is
a question repeatedly asked and brushed aside by the Congress. Earlier
too, when she visited the tsunami affected areas in Tamil Nadu, she made
similar announcements.
Sonia Gandhi's heart beats only
for the farmers of Rajasthan. Or how else does one explain her rushing
to Tonk to 'console' the families of victims of police firing a fortnight
ago. Thousands of farmers continue to commit suicide in Andhra Pradesh
and Maharashtra, both incidentally ruled by the Congress! They die because
of the flawed farm policies of the UPA.
That she wanted to score a political
point is clear from the fact that she announced cash relief of Rs 2 lakh
to the five families. A nice gesture. This is over and above the Rs 5 lakh
announced by the state government and promise of a job to the families
of the victims. In what capacity does Sonia Gandhi announce largesses on
behalf of the Central government is a question repeatedly asked and brushed
aside by the Congress. Earlier too, when she visited the tsunami affected
areas in Tamil Nadu, she made similar announcements, depriving the Prime
Minister of his duty and privilege. No doubt she uses occasions like this
to prove who the boss is in the UPA.
As is now the 'protocol norm' in
the UPA, two Union Ministers accompanied her in her visit. Sonia Gandhi
also pledged the Centre's support if the state came up with a plan for
water. She could have turned and asked Ashok Gehlot, the former Chief Minister
of the state, who was accompanying her, as to why did not the Congress
do anything for mitigating the problem all these years. It is not as though
the water has become scarce only in the recent months. It has been a pressing
and major problem for farmers in several states.
It is a national tragedy that farmers
asking for water are shot dead in India. With agriculture coming under
lesser and lesser priority for the technology and industry-driven governments
in the Centre and the state, the farmers are facing a bleak future and
their suicides are escalating in the graph.
The death of five in the police
firing on protesting farmers in Rajasthan on June 13, 2005, brings into
sharp focus the plight of the agriculture sector. This is the second police
firing on farmers in the state in the last ten months. The farmers resorted
to the extreme form of protest, blocking traffic when their woes were not
solved by the Irrigation Minister, whom they met some time ago. With monsoon
looking farther than before, the farmers could not see their crop fail.
According to reports coming from
different parts of the country lack of water, electricity, non-availability
of dependable seeds, withdrawal of emergency help and financial support
are playing havoc with the lives of farmers. Andhra Pradesh, which received
one of the highest international aids for farm reforms, has seen the highest
rate of farmer suicide.
According to a report from London,
in the June 6, 2005 issue of Outlook, a British agency has blamed the death
of 4,500 farmers in Andhra Pradesh on "unfettered privatisation" of the
farm sector. In a report 'The Damage Done: Aid, Death and Dogma' Christian
Aid, a British charity has said that the privatization policies of the
Telugu Desam government, under Chandrababu Naidu resulted in impossible
conditions for the farmers. These reforms were monetarily backed by the
British government, through its Department for International Development
(DFID). Mr. John McGhie is the author of this report.
The report says the Naidu government
set up an implementation secretariat. The brief of this secretariat was
to reform the various farm-related agencies in the state. When translated
into action, it meant either prune them or finish them. To avoid any resistance
in the administration, the job was entrusted to the UK government, which
in turn engaged a London firm Adam Smith International (ASI). When ASI
set to work, at one go, it closed down 19 state enterprises. By the time
it paused for breath, 43 state-owned institutions working in various areas
of agriculture had been reduced to rubbles. In 2001, the DFID gave ASI
3.1 million dollars to do the demolition job. According to a reliable estimate,
45,000 jobs had been lost. The ASI also envisaged shifting of 20 million
people, 30 per cent of the farm-based population, to other sectors.
The Small Scale Industries Development
Corporation, the State Agro Development Corporation and AP State irrigation
Development Corporation were among those closed. The pruning of the State
Seeds Development Corporation left it absolutely ineffective. This was
among the several small set ups, to which farmers turned in hours of crisis.
The Seeds Corporation also was a help to farmers as it maintained a price
and supply line. With it out of show, the seed prices went out of control
and there was no accountability for quality.
In a situation like this, the MNCs
selling Genetically Modified seeds make a kill. If today Andhra Pradesh
is leading in farmer suicide rate, one does not have to look too far for
reasons. According to official figures released by the government, there
were 1529 farmer deaths, relating to farm debt.
In Andhra alone, the number was
758 (between April to December 2004), followed by Maharashtra, 524. The
statistics of the National Sample Survey
Organisation (NSSO) also point to
farm debt as the biggest killer of farmers. Even two successive crop failures
could push a farmer to the brink, as there is hardly any cushion for him
to fall back on. Most farmers in India survive on money borrowed by pledging
or at least relying on the next crop.
According to the NSSO study, sponsored
by the Ministry of Agriculture and carried out between January and December
2003, "at the all-India level, farmers continue to be under the clutches
of professional money lenders. 29 out of 100 indebted households are under
the loan sharks. In Andhra it is the highest, 57 out of 100 borrow from
loan sharks and in Tamil Nadu 52 out of 100. This only indicates that the
government has withdrawn support to the farmers, throwing them to the greedy
money lender.
The Genetically Modified seeds are
making their entry into Indian cultivable lands both surreptitiously and
overtly. Their attractive claims of double or even triple yield are difficult
to resist for the farmers. It is particularly true of cash crops like cotton,
maize and corn.
Here again, the MNCs, especially
the American companies have edged the Indian companies out. The Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment
and Forests took decisions in two meetings in May, which would make it
impossible for the Indian seeds companies, which produced Bt Cotton seeds
using indigenous non-American technology to enter the market, for at least
the next three years. According to the decision of the GEAC, the non-commercialised
seeds, which literally exclude everyone other than Monsanto, an American
MNC, will have to have mandatory two-year large-scale trials. Secondly,
unlike before, when 250 acres of multi-location trials were allowed, now,
it is restricted to one acre in the first year and 20 acres in the second
year. Such limited area could hardly prove the worth of the seeds, especially
instill faith in the farmers about the Indian seeds.
In Maharashtra, the government is
praying for the success of the Bt Cotton. That seems to be the only way
for the government to duck its responsibility towards the farmers in terms
of support price. The state government, which used to give bonus price
in addition to the Centre's support price has decided to stick to the latter
only. To make up for the loss of money to the farmer, the government is
covertly encouraging use of Bt Cotton seeds. The state government is also
encouraging farmers to switch to other crops like Soya and oilseed.
The agriculture policy has been
crying for a re-look and measures to rejuvenate the farm sector in India
as the pressure grows on the cultivable lands. Millions of hectares of
land in India are fallow because of lack of irrigation facility. Even where
there is cultivation, the plight of the farmer is nearly the same all over
the country. The industries receive so much help and support from the government
and yet when it comes to farm subsidies and concessions to the farmers,
there is a collective political silence. One of the main causes of urban
crowding is also the failure of the agriculture sector as a support to
livelihood.
