Farmers are in great
distress. In Rajasthan they are struggling against the BJP govt. and state
forces which took six lives. Only one third of agricultural land have the
facilities of irrigation and even those are not assured. Irregular supply and
ever-increasing charges of electricity, cost of other agri-inputs and depressed
prices of the crops have become a common phenomena. Farmers are raising their
voice against govt. policies and demanding remunerative prices of their
products. Suicide deaths by farmers which has been very much conspicuous since
the last five years, have been continuing. Despite sweet promises of several
govts, landless and poor peasants, particularly tribal people of rural India,
have been continuing to die due to starvation evoking everlasting debates on the
number and causes of death. Alongwith the vagaries of nature, the vagaries of
the world market prices cause havoc to the farmers. Believing all tall talks
about the land reform programme, the old class structure despite some changes,
basically remains intact adopting newer forms of exploitation—exploitation
through feudal land rent in various forms, usurious rate of interest by
money-lenders, forward purchasing, hoarding—have been continuing.
The persistent crisis
of the agrarian economy has further intensified after the implementation of the
economic reform programme rendering more and more scope to brutal imperialist
exploitation. The UPA govt. have recognised that the farmers of the country have
been in great distress and promised to give a ‘human face’ to the economic
reform programme. So the economic reform programme has been continuing and to
give a ‘human face’ it distributes some reliefs to distressed farmers. It is
nothing but a cunning plot to hoodwink the farmers and to bring down their
resentment to manageable limits. Even then some unruly(!) farmers have been
taking the path of agitation and demonstration to oppose govt. policies.
Farmers’ Agitation
Rajasthan
Since June ‘04 the
farmers of Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner and Jaisalmer districts of
Rajasthan have been agitating on the demand for the supply of water to the
command areas of the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP). Initially the command
area was 16 lakh acres. Subsequently, the BJP and the Congress govts
indiscriminately permitted construction of many canals for the purpose of
serving their political constituencies. As a result of this the command area
expanded to 36 lakh acres rendering a paucity of water in the first phase. The
farmers of this first phase area also demanded assurance from the govt. on
continued supply of 5.23 cusecs of water per 1000 acres instead of 3.5 cusecs
per 1000 acres which was approved by the state cabinet during the previous
congress regime in 1998; though that was not implemented so far.
The previous two
crops were destroyed due to paucity of water. The farmers of this region were
facing a devastating economic condition. According to Gadsana market committee
in 1999 the region produced 4.08 lakh quintal of wheat. In 2003-04 it was just
0.27 lakh quintals. Production of cotton decreased from 4.63 lakh quintals in
1999-00 to 1.23 lakh quintals in 2003-04. The situation is similar in Rawala.
From 4.26 lakh quintals of cotton in 1999-2000, it declined to just over 60,000
quintals in 03-04. This time they were much concerned as the sowing season of
the rabi crops was going to be over but they could not begin their cultivation
for want of water. The aggrieved peasants, including landless peasants and
agri-labourers, led by the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sanghrash Samiti began a
stay-in demonstration in front of the SDM’s office in Ghadsana tehsil. It
continued for a month. They demanded that the govt. should release their share
of water from the IGNP for the cultivation of the ravi crop. It was a peaceful
demonstration. Most of the agitators would return to their homes at night and
return in the morning.
On 25th Oct.,
following the failure of talks hundreds of farmers began a ‘’mahapadav’
(mega-gathering) in front of the SDM’s office and locked the office. But the
demonstrators allowed food for those who were inside the office. On the plea of
releasing the gheraoed employees in the next day evening, when most of the
demonstrators went back to their homes, the gurdians of ‘democracy’ began their
action. The police and Rajasthan Armed Constabulary came down on the remaining
unarmed agitators and resorted to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells. Then
the police and armed constabulary went to the adjacent townships, beat the
farmers brutally and looted their belongings. The news of this police brutalily
spread in time and on 17th Oct the enraged farmers, in support of the Ghadsana
agitation, came to the streets in many places in protest against the police
atrocities. In Rawala when farmers marched to the local police station, police
opened fire; 4 landless peasants were shot dead and many agitators were
seriously injured. The agitators became violent, set fire to the offices and
residences of the SDM and Tehsildar, attacked the office of the sub-registar
besides setting ablaze few police vehicles and two police stations. Curfew was
imposed in Rawala and Ghadsana at 2.30 pm but due to the farmers’ resistance,
police could not have entry into the area till evening. The army was deployed
the very next day. On 30th Oct a joint press conference was held by the Samagra
Seva Sangh. The representatives of all the organizations condemned the police
firing and stated that the "trigger-happy police did not issue any warning to
the agitating farmers and the police opened fire on unarmed farmers to kill
them." On 8th Nov. curfew was withdrawn. The farmers again organized
themselves within a short time and stopped all govt buses. On 9th Nov., in
various parts of the state, farmers joined the protest marches in solidarity to
the farmers’ agitation. In Sriganganagar a large number of peasants gathered to
picket the collectorate office. The police arrested many farmers from
Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh to suppress the protest marches. The farmers
continued defying all threats of the administration and oppressive measures of
the police. When one of the seriously injured farmers died on 18th Nov. ‘04 the
administration quickly moved to his village and the body was buried under heavy
police security. Even villagers were not allowed to be present there. On 3th
Dec. ‘04 the police resorted to a lathicharge on a gathering of farmers and
arrested more than 700 agitators including five leaders of the Sangarsh Samiti.
At the same time the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary and the Special Task Force
began combing operations in search of other leaders. These measures only
aggravated the farmers wrath and that was expressed in the next day. The violent
farmers faced the police forces in Suratgarh, broke the police obstruction and
courted arrest. Many of the agitators were injured when police applied force.
Gradually the protest agitation began to spread throughout Bikaner division. The
university students picketed the jail in Suratgarh demanding the release of
arrested agitators. In the evening curfew was imposed in Annupgarh and
subsequently extended to Ghadsena and Rawala towns following clashes between the
police and the farmers. Inspite of all these repressive measures the govt failed
to quell the farmers’ agitation. On 6th Dec. ‘04 when more than a thousand
farmers were moving towards Kajuwala town to participate in a "mahapadav" the
police lathicharged and opened fire. Hazoor Singh, one of the agitators was
killed and many people were injured. At mid-day curfew was imposed in Kajuwala
town for an indefinite period. The enraged farmers did not allow the cremation
of the body of Hazoor Singh and more than 1500 farmers stayed at the spot
refusing to dispose of the body till the govt assured a relief package to the
family of Hazoor Singh. After three days, after getting an assurance they
cremated Hazoor Singh in the presence of a huge gathering of farmers. The
farmers were seething with anger. The protest movement continued till 10th Dec.
compelling the state govt. to accept their demands.
Though the leadership
of this powerful spontaneous outburst was usurped by the ruling class parties
like CPI(M), Congress and others to serve their political interest, it exposed
the brutal character of the state forces once again. It also helps the farmers
realize the true character of so-called democracy.
Gujrat
The farmers of Gujrat
have also been facing a deep crisis due to a hike in the power tariffs and
irregular supply of electricity. The agitation of the farmers continued for
about one year from Nov ’03 to July ’04. This was led by the Bharatiya Kisan
Sangh (BKS), the farmers’ wing of the BJP. As usual, there was compromise
between the state govt. and the leaders of the BKS disregarding dissatisfaction
of the farmers. Thus the peasants’ resement continues though it is not in an
organized form.
The farmers began to
oppose the increase in power tariff which was raised from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,260 a
horse power since June 2003. As the farmers’ agitation was supported by the vast
majority of the people, the state govt reduced the tariff to Rs. 900 an hp in
Oct ‘03. But, the dissatisfied farmers continued their agitations. Two weeks
after the then union law minister Arun Jaitley intervened to arrive at a
compromise between the State Govt. and the BKS leadership. The agitation was
withdrawn with a mere reduction of only Rs. 50 an hp on Feb. ‘04. Inspite of
this hush-hush truce with the BKS leadership for their own political interest,
the farmers’ resentment continued.
The power problem is
linked to acute shortage of water. As there are no other sources of water the
vast majority of the farmers have to pump ground-water for continuing their
cultivation. Around 85 per cent of Gujarat’s irrigated land depends on pumped
under-ground water whereas this figure is 60 per cent accross the country. For
this purpose the farmers have to use more electricity. According to Jay Narayan
Vyas, the former Narmada Minister "wheat cultivation in north Gujarat is 10
times more expensive than in central Gujarat because in the north they consume a
lot more electricity to pump water." The increased power tariff along with
ever-increasing prices of other imputs result in the higher cost of production
but the market prices of agri-products remain depressed. And it even dwindles
well below the cost of production rendering the vast majority of the farmers
indebted. Even the farmers’ wing’s leader of the BJP, Maganbhai Patel, had to
admit that "farming is no longer profitable.’’ The small farmers are
becoming more and more improverished. Ismail Bandi, director of the Modasa
Agricultural Committee reported, "peasants are deeply in debt, paying
interest of 60 percent to 120 percent to money-lenders. ...small cultivators are
selling off their land and becoming casual workers." Ignoring the sufferings
of the peasants the Hindu chauvinist Modi govt. has increased the power tariff.
Though the govt. has promised to supply power uninterruptedly for 14 hours a day
the farmers have supply of power only 6 hours a day and that too not regularly.
Agitated farmers also draw attention to the anti-peasant policies of the govt.
which can construct 80 highways neglecting the urgent need of constructing
canals for providing irrigation facilities.
Madhya Pradesh
The farmers of Madhya
Pradesh have also been facing similar problems. During the period from 1991 to
2002 the power tariff was increased thrice by the then Congress state govt.
First in 1991 just after the assembly election the govt. took the decision to
disconnect all single point connections and the Electricity Board increased the
tariff with effect from March 1, 1999. In 2001 the average increase in tariff
was 18 percent. That too in a period when peasants were in great trouble due to
subsequent four years of drought. A large number of peasants could not pay their
bills. Consequently, their electricity connections were cut off as they became
defaulters without considering the plight of the drought-affected peasants. The
power tariff was again increased on 30 th Nov. 2002 by as much as 800
percent and the number of hours of power supply was also decreased from 24 hours
to 6 hours a day. However, the state govt exempted small farmers. During the
last two years 6 lakh power connections out of a total of 12 lakh connections
had been cut off as they failed to pay the dues. Thus a large number of farmers
lost the facilities of energised irrigation.
The increase of power
prices further pushed the farmers to deeper crisis enhancing the cost of
production of agriculture while they have been confronting the vagaries of
nature and those of world market prices. According to one study a large number
of farmers are in debt, particularly those of the small and medium categories.
The study also reveals that the expenditure for power is the single largest
expense for farmers other than labour cost. The use of power-based irrigation
becomes more and more out of the reach of the small and marginal farmers. They
are generally dependent upon shallow tube wells for energised extraction of
underground water which dried up during the drought years. They used to buy
surplus water from rich and middle farmers who have better irrigation
facilities. But this source they cannot utilize due to its ever increasing price
and irregular supply. The most important factor that deprives them of utilizing
energised irrigation is the increased power tariff.
Before the last
Assembly election the BJP’s farmers’ wing, BKS, protested against these
anti-farmer policies and the BJP pomised to solve this problem. But now the BJP
govt. has been following the same anti-farmer policies. The aggrieved farmers
organized, under the banners of Nimed Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, (a newly
formed organization) and the Jan Sangharsh Morcha, have been protesting against
these polices. They have long been expressing their resentment against govt.
policies which have caused disaster to them.
Abject dependence on
nature
Even after more than
50 years of transfer of power the agriculture of the country predominantly
depends on nature. About 70 percent of farming is rainfed. Though agriculture
contributes 24% of the country’s GDP, it provides directly or indirectly
employment for two-thirds of the workforce and supports more than 70 percent of
the population. Even then it has always been a neglected sector. While paucity
of water and lack of irrigation facilities cause destruction of crops rendering
immense suffering to the vast majority of the rural people, the investment in
irrigation has been reducing. It has dipped from 22.6 percent in the 1950s to
5.6 percent. Moreover 400 projects worth Rs. 79,000 crore, are pending since
1960. These projects, could have provided irrigation facilities to 21 million
hectares out of 100 million hectres of agriland which are still vulnerable to
the vagaries of nature. Since transfer of power though the govt has spent as
much as $22.5 billion for irrigation projects, even a good percentage the
targeted of land is still without water. Thus bad monsoons and heavy monsoons
cause disaster to peasants, providing a golden opportunity to the big
landowners, a section of rich peasants, money-lenders and hoarders for
intensifying their exploitation. This year also it is conspicuous. In Rajasthan
out of 32 districts 25 districts have been affected by drought.
In Chhattisgarh out
of a total 98 tehsils the govt. has decleared 85 tehsils as drought-affected.
In the last Kharif
season the farmers of Punjab had to reduce the land under paddy cultivation due
to inadequate rain.
Glut Haunts Cotton
Growers
After three years of
drought the cotton-growers have had a good crop in this season. It was expected
by them that the bad patch was going to be over. And they will have scope to
either come out of their debt obligation or reduce the same. But now they are
facing the threat of a glut in the cotton market.
It is estimated that
in this year cotton production of the country is around 200 lakh bales (of 170
kg each). This is 20 percent above normal production level. The International
Cotton Advisory in the United States has estimated a record production of cotton
globally at 107.25 million bales (480 lbs) equivalent to 137.28 million bales
(of 170 kg Indian bales) compared to 122 million bales production last years.
The production of the
USA is nearly six million bales in excess of its normal global sales. The US
govt. is planning to reduce cotton prices and dump cotton in the international
market.
To protect its
domestic market the US govt. admits imports only of specified quantities for a
definite period of time. Its domestic production is highly subsidised and
farmers can sell cotton in international markets at prices below its cost of
production. The cost of production of US cotton is $ 1.70 per kg and it is sold
at $ 1.18 per kg. Export subsidies amounted to $ 300 mn for 2002-03. Moreover it
provides $ 3 billion per year as per its cotton farm subsidy programme. Greece,
Spain and Turkey helped their farmers providing subsidies of $ 718 mn, $ 239 mn
and $ 57 mn respectively in 2002-03.
But cotton farmers of
the country do not have any subsidy since 2003. Cotton imports are also
free—there is no restriction as regards to time and quantity. Import duty is a
nominal 10 per cent. There is no subsidy to encourage export. Even then the
govt. and the protaganists of free (!) market ask the cotton-growers to develop
their efficiency to compete in the international market which is controlled and
greatly distorted by the imperialist forces i.e. MNCs. Moreover, the govt.
allows the textile industry lobby to manipulate and distort the domestic market.
There is a cotton Advisory Board (CAB), which just after every planting season
publish an exaggerated figure of cotton supply with the objective of keeping
market price at a low level. Then just before harvesting the CAB and textile
mill-owners pressurize the govt for import of cotton projecting their new
estimated figure of cotton production which is far lower than the previous one.
The market is flooded with cheap, subsidised imported cotton which pushes
domestic price further down. Through this practice the cotton traders and
textile mill-owners ensure huge profit and farmers have to suffer.
As the govt serves
the interest of the textile industries, traders and that of the imperialist
forces, it does not take any step to address the problems of cotton-growers and
to ensure their livelihood. It will not impose any restriction on cotton imports
and increase import the duty on cotton.
The cotton farmers
are heading towards another crisis. Many farmers of major cotton growing states
like Punjab, Maharasthra, Andhra, have committed suicide suffering from the
unbearable burden of debt. This time too they are facing the same crisis.
Conclusion
The resentment of the
farmers have been increasing. It is gradually taking the form of protest
marches, agitations and even violent struggles and spreading throughout rural
India. We have stated here some of these movements. The peasants have been
raising their voice against the economic reform programme of the govt. which
have opened the domestic economy to the MNCs for their plunder. The agrarian
economy of the country is now at the mercy of the imperialist forces who control
the international agri-commodity market rendering great sufferings to the
farmers of underdeveloped countries like India.
Agriculture of our
country is still predominantly dependent on nature which causes havoc to
farmers’ livelihood. The basic inputs like water and electricity are still
scarce. For want of these the farmers have to face bad harvesting or even
discontinue cultivation again and again.
As the age old class
structure exists the big land-owners, money-lenders, traders and hoarders
continue their inhuman exploitation taking advantage of the distressed condition
of the peasants.
The ruling class
parties and their farmers’ wing have been utilizing the dissatisfied farmers to
increase their votebank or to have a better edge in the power structure. To keep
the farmers resentment within manageable limits they give some releifs. These
parties and their peasant wings favour the economic reform programme which
impoverish the peasants and other sections of the people. Thus these parties and
farmers’ organigations, led by them, betray the farmers. Now farmers are getting
more and more frustrated with these leaderships. This has become a great concern
for the ruling classes and their masters. These anti-farmer forces have taken
initiative to form a national apex body of farmers to take up issues of the
farmers. This organization will work in collaboration with the Confederation of
Indian Industries. The undeclared aim of this organization is to hoodwink the
farmers and distract them from the path of greater agitation.
Moreover this apex
body will serve the MNCs and important agro-based industries to tap the produce
of farmers.
The seething farmers
are getting more and more frustrated being betrayed by their leaderships. They
need an organization guided by the revolutionary forces who organise them and
lead them to develop a mighty struggle against the anti-farmer policies of the
govt throughout the countryside. The revolutionary forces need to shoulder this
task, and lead them against the imperialist forces and their domestic cronies.
In the course of development of these struggle the revolutionary forces can help
farmers develop their political consciousness which lead them to realize the
necessity of a people democratic state which follow an economic policy of
self-reliance.
References:
1. The Hindu 4 Nov.
’04 to 15 Dec., 04
2. India Today, 5
July, 04
3. Agriculture:
Policy and Performance — C.H.Hanumanth Rao
4. Sahara Time 8 May,
04
5. Frontline 18 June
‘04
6. Outlook, 15 Nov
‘04
7. Economic and
Political Weekly, 23 Oct, 2004
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