Seventy years of farmer’s cry, which went unheard.

Recently pop icon Rihanna and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made comments about farmer’s protest in Delhi. Delhi police was quick to file FIR against Greta Thunberg for uploading a document called 'Toolkit', on her Twitter handle. And soon ‘Indian Farmer’s protest', became talk of the town, all over the world. If not, at least on social media websites.

'why is not anyone talking about it? Asked Rihanna. British law makers wants to discuss about 'Indian farmer’s protest' in their parliament and wants to make a public statement. Wion and few other news channels called it is their ‘colonial hangover'. But, I think people in India should be happy about this ‘colonial hangover' and it is people in Britain, who should worry about their elected members working for India.

And the drama continued as former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri joining Bollywood superstars like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan and Karan Johar countering it with “standing against the propaganda against the Indian Government”. This was followed by members of Indian youth Congress pouring black oil on a cut-out of Sachin Tendulkar, in Ernakulam, Kerala.

Then the world super power stepped into settle the matter.

I love star activists like Greta Thunberg, Rihanna and all those who expressed their solidarity to protesting farmers in India. And my question to all of you is; what is this hue and cry all about? The sum total of everything put together is shadow fighting. And this shadow fighting includes the new farm laws, the protest and the furore.

All of us are accustomed to the existing order of things. And that make us react and reject change often. But as far as the 'Farm laws' are concerned, it is not just that. There is more to it. Of course, it is a transition in the Agriculture sector, which is much needed. Seventy percent of Indian population depends on agriculture. Agriculture sector contributes 17.8 % to our country’s GDP. And the new ‘farm laws’ is a baby step towards improving this sector.

We all know that getting a taxi or auto rickshaw from airport, railway station or while commuting to and from work, was more than a hassle, a couple of years ago. And they used to charge as per their whims and fantasies with their faulty meters.

Then came Ola and Uber, the companies who offered ride at as low as 3 rupees per kilometre (share/pool) and 6 rupees per kilometre (complete car) in A/c cars. Customers were delighted. Ola and Uber offered attractive incentive for car owners in the initial days. And the great incentive paid to car owners was to not just to capture the market, but to get more and more cars join the platform. Lucrative incentives made many purchase expensive cars on loan. Many considered it as an investment or secondary source of income. Ola/Uber increased the fare slightly, once common people were used to commuting in cabs and slashed incentives. Now those car owner get nothing more than what they could pay for fuel, driver, maintenance and loan EMI, if everything goes well. Ola/Uber will get 25% of what customers pay and they charge additional 5% as GST. The new farm bill is nothing more than a set of laws to facilitate companies for electronic trading. One can never compare cab aggregators with traders who purchase and sell farm produces, because Seventy percent of Indians depend on farms for their livelihood.

However the protest against the new Farm laws by farmers is meaningless. The protest should have been from the Mandi owner’s, the middlemen and vendors. Be it the big companies or the Mandi owner’s, it is same for farmers. Neither the APMC Act nor the new farm laws will help farmers much. Of course, the new farm laws has few positive aspects which will help consumers. It also gives relief to farmers in few areas. And it is far better than the APMC Act, which makes it legal to reduce farmers to labourers, in their own farm and the APMC Act calls it 'contract farming'.

A street vendor selling vegetables and fruits worth two to three thousand rupees a day will have a turn over of sixty to ninety thousand a month. And they are not farmers. The whole sale markets, Mandis and even the stalls in vegetable markets will make transaction worth several lakhs a month and all those transactions are unaccounted. And those transactions are tax free. And those who do these transactions are not farmers. This is why I say that the new farm law is just a baby step towards improvement.

The new farm law helps to bring accountability. Traders hoarding agricultural produces like potatoes, onion, red dry chillies, pulses, cereals and spices in large quantities to manipulate the price, market, demand and supply can be controlled by bringing accountability. The new farm law offers zero fee, cess or levy to farmers. The new farm law provides a mechanism for any disputes, if traders delays payment. This is a great measure, which will help farmers in scenarios like, sugarcane farmers not get their payment from sugar factories for several months in Karnataka. But the new farm laws say that no civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceedings in respect of any matter. This is an attempt to force corporate culture into agriculture sector and to supress the power of judiciary.

So the new farm bill has several positive aspects. And it is better than the APMC Act. But it is not complete and requires improvement. Then why are the farmers protesting since 9 August 2020? The credit goes to the entire opposition parties. Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal became the queen of 'Indian farmer’s protest'. She kick started the protest by resigning, instead of educating the farmer. And it resulted in death of seventy farmer's.

Opposition who are not active in the protest wants to fan the flame with their statements. Opposition failed to educate the farmers on what their protest should be for? India is facing a political crisis called lack of opposition or a spineless opposition. And they are trying to cover up their inability using protesting students, farmers etc. Star activists like Great Thunberg, who became activist over night, commenting on such issues should not have any relevance than an appreciation which Indian leaders would get from foreigners. But Prime minister Modi terming it as ‘Foreign destructive ideology' is just an exaggeration. The ‘toolkit’ can turn out to be a plot from someone unknown, like what came to light after years of imprisonment of Rona Wilson.

What should be the cause for which Indian farmers should protest?

Farmers are not getting the price their produces deserve. Neither APMC Act nor the new farm laws can resolve this issue. The new farm laws can bring more players or companies who would make it a competitive market and may even use apps to help farmers to inform them about availability of a particular item from farm. The app may also help traders to quote approximate price to the farmers. But this alone cannot guarantee that farmers will get reasonable price for their produce. And MSP covers only a section agricultural produce.

Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman did say that the government will make investment in creating Agricultural infrastructure during the recent budget session. If such infrastructure is limited to construction of cold storage and godowns, then it will not help resolving the farmers issue.

The union Government cannot save farmers from buyer’s market, unless they come up with a comprehensive plan. Government should instruct Niti Ayog to come up with a plan to control the price and market. The new farm laws says that a central government organisation may develop a price information and market intelligence system for farm produce. It further says that it could be government owned or promoted company or society. This is an area where government can spend on infrastructure for agriculture sector, as promised by finance minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharama. If price information and market intelligence system for farm produce is given to private company, then the intentions of the new farm laws will become meaningless.

The government should also come up with website or app, through which they can guide farmers to balance the demand and supply. Such mechanism to balance demand and supply may not be 100% accurate, but will definitely help us avoid excessive production of perishable produces. It helps in avoiding a situation like importing dal at one hundred rupees per kilo, which Modi government did in the past, due to shortage.

The government can consider setting up procurement and distribution centres in all tier1 and tier2 cities on their own or through society. And such warehouses can give franchise to private parties in every towns. And those franchise holders will buy from farmer’s and send it to the warehouses. It is practical, because already there are private players who operate in this manner. Thereby the government can participate in the trade, than just allowing private players.