By Saurabh Katkurwar
New Delhi, December 17 (IANS) Agrarian crisis emerged as a major political concern in 2018, fuelled mainly by a fall in crop prices and a poor procurement mechanism which will provide opposition parties a common ground to rally against the BJP ahead of the next year's general elections.
The anger brewing against the perceived "anti-farmpolicies" of the government could be measured by the poor performance ofthe BJP in the rural parts of Hindi heartland states in the just-concludedAssembly elections, that saw the BJP ousted from power in all three states.
In past one year, the national capital alone saw at leastfive major rallies of farmers, despite the BJP-government coming up with a newprice-fixation formula and a score of schemes to impress the tillers of thesoil.
The police firing in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur last yearthat led to the death of six farmers, sparked agitations throughout the countryover rural distress, which snowballed into a major political and social issuethis year. The simmering discontent among farmers gained political traction in2018.
Various opposition parties have been raising their voices against different issues to suit their electoral needs but they showed unanimity in expressing their solidarity with the demands for better crop remuneration and farm loan waivers during the November 30 farmers' rally in the capital.
At the same rally, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had said:"The voice that is reverberating now across the country is of the farmerswho are in deep distress and crisis."
For the first time, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will befought on issues revolving around rural distress, said Yogendra Yadav of SwarajIndia, who is credited with bringing over 200 farmers' outfits under one banner-- the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC).
"There has always been agrarian distress in thecountry. However, it never got an occasion to become a principal factor in theelections. The BJP's defeat in the Assembly polls, coupled with thenewly-achieved unity among farmers, has ensured that farm distress would take acentre stage in the 2019 elections," Yadav told IANS.
He termed the BJP regime led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi"the most anti-farmer" government in the history of the independentIndia because of its "unsympathetic" treatment of farmers in the pastfour-and-a-half years.
Many videos throughout the year went viral on the socialmedia, featuring angry farmers throwing their harvest and milk on the roads inthe absence of remunerative prices.
Amid protests, the government increased the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) for certain agriculture commodities. However, the farmers foundthis not at par with their demands and expectations.
Also, poor procurement of commodities owing to inadequatenumbers and delay in the opening of purchasing centres by the governmentagencies forced the farmers to make distress sales.
In the case of vegetables, while the retail prices hoveredbetween Rs 20-30 in major cities, the prices received by farmers forsemi-perishable commodities such as potatoes and onion slumped to Rs 1 per kg.
The Agriculture Ministry seemed "ineffective" tocreate a redressal mechanism, activists said, though it came up with threeprocurement plans. Notably, Union Minister and Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkarihad in June this year acknowledged that there was agrarian crisis due tosurplus crop output and sought action to address the problem.
And yet, the BJP-government failed to take corrective actionby analysing the demand-and-supply situation, said Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatanaleader and Lok Sabha member Raju Shetti, who quit BJP-led National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) over farmers issues' last year.
"The government has been quite aware of the farmers'issues. However, it did not take required action to ensure remunerative pricesfor farmers and the procurement of their harvest was ineffective," Shettiadded.
Noted agronomist Ashok Gulati said there was "lack ofunderstanding" and "lack of vision" in the current BJP regime.He said the government did not carry out the required market reforms butresorted to just slogans and announcements.
"Even after the Mandsaur firing episode, the governmentdid not act," he said.
Any government needs a smart agriculture minister foreffective implementation of schemes, he added.
Interestingly, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh choseto attend a Yoga session with Baba Ramdev in Bihar two days after the Mandsaurfiring.
