While the response to the Bharat Bandh call was overwhelming in Punjab and other neighboring states, Maharashtra, which has the highest farmer suicides in this decade, saw very few demonstrations held against these bills on 25 September or earlier.
The three agricultural reform bills (Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020), tabled and passed in the Upper and Lower house of parliament, have been at the centre of criticism by farmers across the country. Though farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been largely involved in the protests held against these bills, farmers’ bodies from across the country have opposed these legislations. On 25 September, over two dozen farmers’ organisations from across the country, supported by 18 political parties including the Congress, called for Bharat Bandh. While the response to the call was overwhelming in Punjab and other neighboring states, Maharashtra, which has the highest farmer suicides in this decade, saw very few demonstrations held against these bills on 25 September or earlier. Are farmers in Maharashtra happy with these reforms? Are they not worried about being forced to sell their crops below Minimum Support Price (MSP) to private players?
To understand why there were fewer protests in Maharashtra, first, we will need to delve into understanding what APMCs, MSPs, and FCI mean and how they work in the context of Maharashtra.
Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs)
APMCs are government-run mandis set up to protect farmers from exploitation and ensure a fair price for their produce. However, in Maharashtra, a series of steps were taken over the few years that meant farmers weren’t dependent on APMCs. The state government had delisted fruits and vegetables from the purview of APMCs in 2016.
Minimum Support Prices (MSPs)
MSPs refer to crop-specific prices that are announced before each cropping season by the Indian government. It is a notional remunerative price for most other crops, while some crops such as rice and wheat see a large-scale government procurement at MSP.
Food Corporation of India (FCI)
The FCI is a statutory body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, formed to implement the following objectives of the National Food Policy :
- Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the poor farmers
- Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for Public Distribution System (PDS)
- Maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure National Food Security
- Regulate market price to provide foodgrains to consumers at a reliable price
Being one of the largest corporations started by the government, the FCI purchases roughly 15 to 20 percent of India’s wheat output and 12 to 15 percent of its rice output. The purchases are made from the farmers at the rates declared by the Government of India. This rate is called MSP (Minimum Support Price).
Why Maharashtra Farmers Are Not Protesting?
Raju Shetti, President of the Swabhimani Paksh and former member of Parliament, when asked why farmers from Maharashtra didn’t participate in Bharat Bandh, told HW News: “No doubt there is opposition to these bills in Maharashtra as well. But instead of Bharat Bandh, we chose to burn the copies of these bills to register our protest. There is a lockdown imposed in various districts and people are already fed up of it. we didn’t want to trouble and interrupt the essential services by calling Bharat Bandh.” He also stressed that the purchase by the government is very less in Maharashtra as compared to Punjab and Haryana and the farmers also sell their produce outside APMCs, so there are fewer protests in the western state.
While talking to HW News about why farmers from states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh are on streets in huge numbers, Mr. Shetti said: “In these states, farmers sell wheat and rice to the government at given MSP. But now we think the government is trying to do away with offering MSPs to the farmers.” Shetti also stressed that now that Reliance has brought the Big Bazaar, the government will also give away the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the private players and will not buy the 30% crop at the given MSPs, allowing corporates to trouble farmers.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Shetti, who is part of the All India Kisan Sangharsha Sammitee (AIKSS), the umbrella body of over 200 farmer organisations, welcomed the move but asked for a mechanism to prevent farmers from being cheated by fly-by-night operators. He also criticized this “corporatisation” of the farm sector.
However, Anil Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sanghtana, called the move a “landmark reform” in the sector, which will help farmers gain financial independence.
Ghanwat told the Indian Express that the farmers’ organisation decided to support the legislations as they were aimed at helping farmers. He said the fear expressed by farmers in other states was unfounded.
“This will allow farmers to become real owners of their produce. Barring the mandis, the present system did not present any other avenue to offload produce. Now, it is expected that as the private sector comes into the picture, farmers will have more than one market to choose from,” Ghanwat was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
While speaking on why farmers were on the streets in other states, Ghanwat said: “The condition is the same in most states — only 10 per cent farmers in the country are able to sell a substantial quantity of their produce under MSP and they are the ones who have hit the streets.”
The new laws will also lead to private players investing in rural infrastructure, Ghanwat stressed, adding that the protests had “invisible” forces that did not want the present system to be disturbed.
“We have already spoken to protesting farmers in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, and we were able to convince them of our view,” Ghanwat said.
Wamanrao Chatap, a farmers’ leader from the Vidarbha area of the state and former president of the Shetkari Sanghatana, told Huffington Post: “We are supporting these agricultural bills as we are the supporters of a free economy and free market. Giving free access to farmers to markets is always welcome.”
Maharashtra Farmers Not Dependent On APMCs
In states like Punjab and Haryana, within 15 days after harvest of paddy and wheat, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) buys more than 95% of the harvest of each and every farmer there. In Maharashtra, the situation is different and MSP operations are just not there. When prices fall below MSP, the CCI and NAFED (Cotton Corporation of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation) come into the picture. Maharashtra was also one of the first states to issue private market licences.
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