Modi report card: BJP erred in reading farmers' pulse

In 2014, Narendra Modi promised everyone “Achche Din (good times)”. A year into office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to double the income of farmers by 2022. With three years to go, the road map is, at best, hazy, and the steps taken so far have not helped assuage the farmers' anger or reduce the number of farmer suicides.

Exactly 15 days before the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Modi inaugurated the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Meant for small and marginal landholding farmers, it is a direct cash transfer of Rs 6,000 a year , in three equal instalments.

The scheme was announced in the interim budget of 2019, weeks after the ruling party's governments were voted out in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after three continuous terms, and in Rajasthan where the party had bagged all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections. The result, without doubt, shocked the party, but it drove home one major point among a few others—that the farmers were angry and had turned against them, that the agri distress was real and could not be talked away by mentioning “soil health cards, crop insurance, interest subsidy, neem-coated urea, better irrigation facilities and online marketing platforms”. The government also talks of kisan-based apps and call centres. Not that these were not important, but they were simply not enough. Or did not convert into tangible remuneration for farmers.

While Modi inaugurated the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Gorakhpur on Feb 24, a transfer of Rs 5,940 crore as the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to 29.7 million farmers, had already been made by March 28. The Election Commission gave its nod, specifically for the beneficiaries identified till the Model Code Of Conduct kicked in. The government has identified 47.6 million farmers. Those who have not received the money in their account so far can expect to get it by the first week of April. Interestingly, some farmers would have received two instalments by then!

Food policy analyst Devinder Sharma welcomed the fact that the “government has shifted from price policy to income policy” for farmers, though the amount could have been doubled. He feels a lot more reforms, like mandis (markets) in the neighbourhood, storage facilities in rural neighbourhoods and easy credit are among the few other things needed urgently.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare highlights the number of farmers covered under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana—5,25,96,476. But, farmers say it is as good as no insurance. “A farmer may lose all his crops, but until everyone else in that block has lost it, he will not get any compensation from insurance,” says Sardara Singh, a farmer with land in Ropar district on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The government indeed announced a hike in the minimum support price (MSP), or the price at which government agencies have to procure farm produce.

In October last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the increase in the MSPs for all rabi crops for 2018-19 to be marketed in 2019-20 season. The government's estimate was that it would give farmers an additional return of Rs 62,635 crore, and it maintained that this will “aid in doubling farmers’ income”. The very next month, farmers marched towards Parliament demanding loan waiver and higher prices for their produce. Many wanted a special session to discuss the agrarian crisis that showed no signs of going away. The matter had all political parties involved, not just with support for the farmers, but also ideas of their own. And, in December, the farmers showed their anger in the assembly elections.

Though they took to the streets almost every year in the last five years, it is not as if the farmers have not contributed to the country's food bowl. According to ministry data, the production during 2018-19 is higher by 7.8 million tonnes than the five years’ average production of 107.8 million tonnes, and that of wheat is higher by 4.51 million tonnes than the average wheat production of 94.61 million tonnes.

But at what cost, ask farmers.

Ahead of the recent assembly elections to five states, the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA) announced its decision not to vote for the ruling party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Our consortium comprising 13 farmers' organisations has decided not to vote for BJP candidates in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had promised that it would implement Swaminathan Commission report in its poll manifesto in 2014. But, after coming to power, the BJP government refused to implement it," said CIFA president Satname Singh Behru.

The government can honestly and easily claim to have made an attempt to implement the report of the National Committee of Farmers. But there are a couple of points that farmers remember the most.

“Encourage non-farm employment opportunities by developing particular sectors and sub-sectors where demand for the product or services is growing namely: (i) trade (ii) restaurants and hotels (iii) transport (iv) construction (v) repairs and (vi) certain services.

“The 'net take home income' of farmers should be comparable to those of civil servants.”

Now, Rs 6,000 is not what civil servants at the lowest level take home!

The direct cash transfer under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana will be, without a doubt, a big talking point for Prime Minister Modi over the next few weeks. But what remains to be seen is whether it will assuage the anger of farmers.