A Battle of Nerves Hides Deeper Social Crisis

Context: The farmer-government political and economic tussle over farm laws looks like a deadlock, behind which lies a social abyss which no show of political strength can hide.

Challenges in Farm Law

• Government rhetoric: While the government pushes the bills for its benefits for the farmers, the actual problem is that the government is facing difficulties in putting up with the procurement bill.
• No protection against vagaries of market law: in terms of supply-demand mismatch, because private traders are not obliged to buy grains from farmers in event of low demand and at MSP.
  • Dissolving mandi jurisdiction and assured MSP is against farmer’s freedom to sell his produce.
• Unrealistic promises and temporary concessions: like free power and increased MSP, become entrenched, and no government or political party dare withdraw them.
  • Governments may not be able to fulfil the promise of assured MSP (based on input costs) in case of an increase in production costs.
• Paradox in Punjab’s agricultural: due to the perennial crisis of deteriorating soil salinity and declining health because of deleterious effects of contaminated water and soil sources.
  • Punjab’s farmers are trapped in cereal cultivation due to the absence of crop diversification as a result of government’s inability to provide MSP for horticultural produce due to unstable demand.
  • Cash surpluses (after selling land) are not leading to alternative investments.
  • Agricultural revolution caused social turbulence through drug addiction, rise in cancer cases, and migration to foreign countries.

Way Forward:

• Encourage crop diversification: The governments should pay the farmers cash incentives for not growing rice and wheat every second year.
• Continue MSP: The private traders can buy at a minimum price, if not MSP since there is a crop insurance policy against the vagaries of nature but not the market.

Conclusion: Instead of shying away from recurring welfarist commitment, the government must find ways of maintaining stability through education, alternative career paths and a value system.