March on! The ongoing protest in India

March on!

The ongoing protest in India

Rimsha Acharya

The three farm acts passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020 have ignited a tidal wave of anger resulting in farmers' protests across states of India. Farmers have mobilised at Delhi's borders, bringing traffic to a standstill. The ongoing farmers' protest has garnered support across the country with people marching on the streets and demonstrators blocking highways and railway lines in various states. The three farm acts that have been passed are as follows: The Farmers' Produce Trade and

Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price

Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential

Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The main point of contention with these bills is that it creates a free market in the agricultural sector meaning farmers no longer have to sell their produce at designated markets.

The bills also remove the Minimum Support Price (MSP) which means that there is no longer fixed price for certain produce that the farmers sell. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and

Facilitation) Bill, 2020 creates a free agricultural market whereby farmers are no longer restricted to sell their goods within the designated APMC trade areas. Under this legislation, state governments prohibit imposing a market fee, cess or levy outside the APMC market. The creation of a free market in the agricultural sector enables big farmers to sell at higher prices and sell to private corporations. However, the high transportation cost, especially for rural farmers limits their ability to find buyers who might yield them a better price for their produce. Moreover, should there be an increase in the cost of cultivation but a low selling price for products due to low demand, farmers, will be susceptible to fluctuations in the market where they will not receive a subsidy or MSP. The creation of the free market in the agricultural sector also means that the corporations are no longer required to honour the MSP.

Farmers are able to sell outside of the APMC and enter into contracts with firms to sell their harvest. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020: The act's primary purpose is to create a contract farming framework. It is a legal means by which a farmer and buyer can have a legal agreement before production or rearing farm produce. Chapter III of the Act provides a dispute settlement mechanism between farmer and the buyer: the conciliation board, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Appellate Authority. The Act enables the buyer to set conditions for producing, delivery, and many other matters. Farmers have noted that large companies are likely to curtail the product's price by rejecting the majority of the produce for not meeting their

specifications. Moreover, due to the need for loans, farmers are desperate to sell their crops during harvest time to ensure they can take new loans for the new planting season. Farmers fear that they will no longer be able to negotiate with big corporations and clauses may be added to the legal agreement resulting in an increase in farmers' exploitation.

The third Act is The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The act allows the central government to regulate the cost of certain food items under extraordinary circumstances such as war, famine, high price rise or natural calamities. Staple produces will no longer be placed under essential commodities meaning that big corporations can stockpile commodities, thus dictating these goods' cost. It can directly affect the farmers as it could lower the farmers' bargaining powers and raise the cost of goods for the general public.

To understand the ongoing farmers' protest, it is crucial to look at India's agriculture history, starting at the Green Revolution of 1960. Until the 1960s India was a food deficit country; however, the introduction of Green Revolution technology-enabled advances in food productions and food security. The Green Revolution technology required farmers to use high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and vast amounts of water instead of their own crops for seed. The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) was created as designated wholesale markets, where Minimum Support Price (MSP) is offered directly to farmers to assure a fair price for their harvest with the new technology. Establishment of APMC aimed to eliminate farmers' exploitation by intermediaries and creditors where they were forced to sell at low cost due to distress. The creation of APMC restricted farmers to sell their harvest at the designated committee, which enabled the government to purchase a supply of grain for the public distribution system to supply staples to the poor at subsidised rates.

One point of contention has been the lack of consultation with key stakeholders such as the farmer unions when the Lok Sabha (lower house) enacted new legislation. Moreover, the government passed the controversial bills without allowing discussion on important issues presented by the opposition. The BJP is the ruling party in India and holds the parliamentary majority. The hast way in which the bills were passed using the BJP parliamentary majority is the reflection of the character of Prime minister, Narendra Modi's critical decisions such as the policy of demonetisation in 2016, hasty rollout of goods and services tax in 2017 and the nationwide lockdown with 4 hours' notice to contain COVID.

The agriculture sector contributes to approximately 18% of India's GDP and employs nearly 60% of the population in India. The majority of the agriculture sector workforce comprises the rural population who have very few options other than agriculture. In the farming sector, majority of India's farmers own farms smaller than three acres and mostly engage in subsistence farming. Only when available is the surplus sold to private traders, resulting in these farmers' income to remain just over $1000 a year, making them highly sensitive to market fluctuations. The stagnating agricultural productivity and the lack of job creation in the manufacturing sector have created job security fears, especially with rural farmers. Technology contributes to approximately 8% of the country's GDP; however, it employs less than a third of 1% of the population. There is a growing fear that the enactment of new laws will make family-owned farms unviable.

The enactment of new legislation promises benefits to the farmers on the surface; however, the agricultural sector's complete deregulation is likely to do more harm than good, especially to rural farmers. A decrease in farming incomes is expected to contribute to the increasing farmer suicide epidemic. Further, the introduction of high-yielding rice and wheat varieties in the 1960s has led to a drop in groundwater to critical levels. Farmers have resorted to digging their bore wells deeper and using vast amounts of chemicals in their fields to fend off increasing pest attacks. The high cost of agriculture has led to farmers taking on more debt and crop failures has seen the destruction in generations of rural families. Despite several talks between the farmers and the government, the deadlock persists; however, it is vital for the government to recognise the importance of farming to India's labour market.