Title: Read The Distress Signals
(Farming must be treated as a market-based enterprise and
made viable on its own terms)
Recurrent farmers’ agitations in the last few years
across the nation lead us to ask: why have we come to this pass, that only
extreme distress and street protests alert us to the deep and chronic problems
of agriculture? Not all agitations have been peaceful or successful. Last year,
in Haryana and Rajasthan they tried to block highways which led to traffic
chaos. In Madhya Pradesh, in Mandsaur district, the protest turned violent, led
to police firing and deaths of farmers
It is not as if governments of the day have not paid
attention. Over the years and decades, there have been numerous committees,
reports and commissions with extensively researched policy recommendations. Yet
farming is a story of recurring distress.
This implies that the recommendations are not working and
need a paradigm change, or there is a huge gap in their implementation — or a
bit of both.
What is the priority?
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The “farm problem” of India is a huge
mountain, but it is surmountable. The biggest priority is to reduce the
workforce which depends on agriculture for its livelihood.
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There is considerable underemployment and low
productivity but farmers are unable to exit to other livelihood options.
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But we also need to acknowledge that the farm
sector has been shackled(limit) for far too long.
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Farming is to be treated as a business and
has to be viable on its own terms.
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Historically, farm prices were kept
suppressed to keep industrial wages low. This meant monopoly procurement laws
and the intermediation through the Agriculture Produce Market Committees
(APMC). But that was compensated by providing the farmer with highly subsidised
inputs — water, electricity, fertilizer, credit and seeds.
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But this did not benefit the really needy,
subsistence farmers. Nor did it alter the terms of trade which to this day
remain tilted against agriculture.
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There is little progress in direct link
between farmer and buyer.
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Thus the farmer’s plight is full of woe,
exposed to risks from prices, demand, weather, pests and whims(sudden) of
policy and regulation. It’s no surprise that crisis is chronic, and loan
waivers become imperative(crucial), more for moral and ethical reasons, than
economic.
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Loan waivers punish those who worked hard and
repaid, and the cash anyway goes to banks, not to farmers. Banks don’t issue
fresh loans out of their own risk aversion.
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Hence, loan waivers are a bad economic idea
but often a political compulsion.
Some positive steps
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To its credit some recent initiatives of the
government are laudable. Neem-coated fertilizer has reduced leakage, and direct
benefit transfer to the farmer-buyer will reduce subsidy further.
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Soil cards ensure appropriate matching of
inputs to soil conditions.
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The government’s aim to double farm income in
the next four years is a near impossible feat, but signals the right intention.
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The big agenda is to unshackle(liberate)
agriculture to make it a truly commercial market-based enterprise; to create
opportunities outside farming for large scale exit of the workforce; to connect
farmers to the value chain of farm to fork, including agribusiness;
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To remove restrictions on movement and
exports of farm produce and let them tap into international market, to
encourage crop diversification and land consolidation that reverses
fragmentation. As said earlier, the farm problem is a huge mountain, but
surmountable.
Vocabulary :
- Viable (adj) = Capable of working successfully(व्यवहार्य)
- Unprecedented (adj) = Never done or known before (अभूतपूर्व)
- City dwellers (noun) = People who live in the city
- Bystander (noun) = Non-participant (दर्शक)
- Lip service (noun) = To say that you agree with something but do nothing to support it (दिखावटी प्रेम)
- Agitate (verb) = Make troubled or nervous (उत्तेजित करना)
- Ceremonial (adj) = Relating to formal religious (अनुष्ठानिक)
- Dissuade (verb) = Discourage, prevent (रोकना)
- Gruelling (adj) = Extremely tiring (थकानेवाला)
- Chronic (adj) = Persistent, long-term (बहुकालीन)
- Paradigm (noun) = A typical example or pattern (मिसाल)
- Procurement (noun) = Occupation of acquiring something (खरीद)
- Surmountable (adj) = Vincible (जीतने योग्य)
- Exodus (noun) = A mass departure of people
- Plight (noun) = A dangerous or unfortunate situation (दुर्दशा)
- Woe (noun) = Sorrow or distress (शोक)
- Feat (noun) = An achievement that requires great courage
