After the farmers' unrest and subsequent police firing in Madhya Pradesh in June this year, which killed six peasants, the agriculturalists are again showing signs of anger and frustration. Unhappy over the plummeting prices of kharif crops like soybean and urad, farmers are clashing with authorities every second day in the state.
The state government had commenced a novel scheme called Bhavantar Bhugtan under which the difference of market price of crops from the minimum support price (MSP) was paid by the government.
Among the kharif crops, except sesame, farmers are not getting minimum support price for soybean, groundnut, ramtil, maize, moong and urad. The prices of these crops have gone down drastically in the local markets making farmers unhappy as they had expected good prices.
The minimum support price of urad is Rs 5,400 per quintal, while it is selling for less than 1,600 per quintal in local markets. Interestingly, in other parts of country, the price of urad is little better between Rs 3,000 and 3,500 per quintal. Similarly, the MSP of maize is Rs 1,425 per quintal, but the buying price by traders in local mandis (markets) is around Rs 1,000.
Same is the case with toor dal, which commands a MSP of Rs 5,450, but the farmers are not getting more than Rs 2,600 per quintal. The MSP of moong dal is Rs 5,575 per quintal, but traders are buying for Rs 3,800 per quintal. The support price of soybean is Rs 3,050 per 100kg, but farmers are getting only Rs 2,200 per quintal for it.
“This sudden drop in prices due to high yield and faulty import policies have made farmers bankrupt after a poor monsoon,” says P.P.S. Singh Thakur, a progressive farmer of Pagara village.
Farmer leader Saurav Hazari of Rehli said, “Bhavantar Yojana has created unrest among the farmers of the state as traders are bent upon looting through mischievous ways. The government has failed miserably to check the nexus of traders and hoarders.”
Two months back, the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana was launched as a guarantee to ensure reasonable prices to the farmers for their produce. The benefit of the scheme was meant for those farmers who got themselves registered on the portal of the scheme till October 15.
While launching the scheme on October 16, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan explained the scheme: “If sale of any crop out of eight crops takes place in the mandi during the prescribed period at less than the minimum support price and more than the model sale price, then the difference between the sale price and minimum support price will be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers.”
“Similarly, if any crop from the prescribed crops is sold on prices less than the model sale price, then the difference between the minimum support price and model sale price will be deposited in the bank account of the farmers directly, and information will also be provided on mobiles. Farmers are required to sell their produce to traders in mandis, and the traders will pay them immediately. The difference amount will be deposited in the bank account within a period of two months.”
Though the state government provided free registration facility at 3,500 primary agriculture cooperative societies and 257 krishi upaj mandis, the farmers did not show interest as they needed the amount in cash, while the government said it would be deposited in the accounts after a period of time.
The confusion related to the scheme led to statewide protests and officials were gheraoed by farmers at various places. On Tuesday in Seoni, farmers stopped the official car of district collector Gopalchandra Dad and demanded fast payment under the scheme and release of water for irrigation in their canals.
In several mandis of Indore, the farmers protested in groups to get the payments for the produce sold and registered under the scheme. The deputy director of the Mandi Board in Indore Division said, “payment to most of the farmers have been done; those left out are because of the faulty banking system.”
Meanwhile, resentment among farmers has been reported during last few weeks at mandis in Bhopal, Ujjain, Raisen, Harda and several other places. Police even arrested some farmer leaders in Karond Mandi area of Bhopal.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargava on Wednesday said that farmers are not dying due to failure of crops or drop in price but they are committing suicide because they are emotional.
