Enjoying the fruits of their labour

Context: Farmers are the cornerstone of the food security of our country. The recent steps taken by the government have ushered an era of farmer’s freedom to market their produce at a place of their choice.

Restrictions on Farmers:

• Constitutional Rights Violation: Restrictive laws like Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955 and the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) have denied to farmers their right to freedom of trade.

• Implicit Taxation: marketing restrictions amounted to ‘implicit taxation’ on the farmers of Rs 2.56 lakh crore/year. (study by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations-OECD, 2018)

• Less Remunerative: Due to the presence of middlemen and money lenders. For every rupee a farmer earns, others earn more than that.
• Inefficient value chains: Due to unavailability of cold storage, stocking facilities and lack of transport facilities for perishable commodities.

Laudable Steps:

• Financial Support: aimed at improving infrastructure in farming and allied sectors and credit support to the farmers to provide succour.
• Removing Restrictions: Rewriting the principles of ECA and APMC Acts will ensure fair remunerative prices. Increased bargaining power by creation of the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO).
• Improving incomes: through a range of activities under allied sectors and extensions. This helps in abating farmer suicides are inferred by a study by the National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management. An effective law on contract farming is the need of the hour.

Conclusion :

• Farmers are the essential foundation for all political, social, and economic aspects of India. They are the epitome of Nishkama Karma philosophy and need fair protection.