Agony of misguided farmers

 Imagine a small village market where farmers from different corners of our country are allowed to trade. No restrictions based on the origin of the produce. Any trader from any part of the country is allowed to buy directly from the farmers. The farmers, as well as the buyers, have surplus options to chose from, maintaining healthy competition in the market.

Developing this kind of market in the country is the vision of our government while passing THE FARMER'S PRODUCE TRADE AND COMMERCE(Promotion and Facilitation) BILL. The bill was promulgated by the central government on June 5, 2020. 

If summarized the main goal of this bill is to:

• Demolish the monopoly of Mandis,
• Allow farmers to directly sell their produce to private buyers,
• Promote both inter-state as well as intra-state trading, and
• Increase the income of farmers

According to the government, with the help of this bill, they will be able to double the income of farmers by 2022. There will be no such thing called intermediaries in the trading of farmer's produce hence farmers will get maximum profit. Farmers will no longer be restricted to their district or even their state. The monopoly of Mandis will no longer sustain. As in mandis farmers have to pay a 1.5-2.5% fee, hence omitting mandis in trade will be beneficial for farmers. Encouraging this, farmers even have full rights to be in a legal contract with the private dealers.

If the bill is looking like a milestone in the farming sector in the first place, then why farmers are protesting against this bill?

Why this fear?

The biggest loophole in this bill, according to farmers, is omitting the right to MSP(Minimum Support Price).MSP, as the name suggests is the price that the government sets on agriculture product price to purchase directly from the farmers. MSP rate acts as a guarantee for the farmer to a minimum profit level, incase the open market has a lesser price than the cost incurred.

The biggest problem, here is, MSP is only applicable on trade-in mandis and not in any private trade/contract.

So, after this bill, if the farmers shift from mandis to private buyers the mandis will get demolished eventually. And the moment mandis are no longer in existence, the private dealers will have a dictatorship in pricing the harvest and there will be no government backing rate such as MSP. Gradually, private dealers will control everything in the farming sector. 

Farmers protesting on the borders of the national capital have only demand, either to ensure MSP or to take back these bills. Adding on this, statements from the state Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh fuels the rage in farmers.

There might be an argument that the farmers can negotiate and have a legal contract with the private dealers. But, lack of proper education and awareness is a big problem here. 
How can a small farmer, who cannot read and write, negotiate with a big private dealer? 

Educated people get fooled by these contracts and policies, can we expect Indian farmers to successfully negotiate with them?

Opinion: 

Should we support them?

If you cannot survive without food on your table, then you should be the first one standing hand in hand with the farmers. Not ensuring MSP will sooner or later make farming way more depressing and financially weak than it is now. Today farmers at least have an assurance that government will buy their harvest at MSP, and as soon as this system ends, there will be no guarantee of profit for farmers. As a result, 58% of the population will be facing a financial crisis and the rest of the population will be facing a food crisis.

Even after all this, if you go on giving a price tag to these protestors, if you 'boycott'

someone who supports them, if you support the government for deploying the army to stop the protest, if you think the protest is triggered by any political organization or if you think these protestors Khalistanis, then my friend you are not only "anti-national", but also dumb and blind.

 

Is there any way out?

The bill is a milestone in the farming sector but with the omission of MSP, and the past experiences of the current government's policies, there is a reliability issue hanging on this bill. The central government should positively respond to the demands of farmers and with few amendments, make this bill better and then implement it. 

This bill with few amendments will revolutionize the farming sector in the exact same manner globalization did to the Indian market.

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