Farmers attacked in Madhya Pradesh

On 6^th June, farmers in Madhya Pradesh were attacked for demanding remunerative prices and a loan waiver.

Background

Security forces opened firing at the farmers demanding a fair price and a loan waiver that led to the death of 2 farmers and 3 others in the Mandsaur district. The state home minister, however, denied that the police resorted to fire and stated that it was the Central Reserve Police Force that shot farmers who had put 5 buses on fire.

What are the farmers agitating for?

The farmers are asking for profitable increase in prices and loan abdication. They are demanding people to purchase milk at 50 per litre as they buy it at 37 per litre. The farmers had launched a state-wide agitation after market prices fell very low that they were forced to sell onion at rupee 1 and tur daal for 35 per kg.

In order to end the ongoing agitation, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister announced a slew of measures that brought up the prices of onion 8 per kg and daal for 50 per kg. He announced that the government would purchase all the farmer’s produce at a minimum support price, even when the market prices were low and called off the farmer’s agitation. However, the farmers stated that they did not call off the agitation and it was part of the government’s plan to confuse them. This led to violence in various towns that farmers had been agitating and police officers were attacked.

Condition of farmers in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh has the highest rate of suicides attempts by farmers. The reasons for the suicides have been attributed to farming related issues like crop failure, inability to sell agricultural produce, failure to pay back loans and other factors like poverty and property disputes. The government has introduced lending agencies to provide relief measures in cases of natural calamities. The farmers now get crop loans up to 3 lakh at a subsidised rate of 7% interest and the scheme also offers extra subsidies to farmers who pay back their short term loans on time.

However, the loan waiver scheme that was started by Narendra Modi was not a success.  The NABARD chairman stated that debt waivers created a moral hazard and should be provided only to the needy.

Assessment

 Many farmers in Madhya Pradesh are known for agitating and committing suicides due to loan debts and crop failure. The government should implement a sharing scheme, under which the farmer pays half the debt and the other half is paid by the government. This would reduce the debt burden for the farmers.

Also, earlier the farmers would produce as per the domestic requirement but with the expansion of markets, the farmers produce in bulk. Thus when prices crash they sell at a lower price or discard it leading to huge losses for the farmers. Hence the government should provide a basic assured income so that even if the crop fails, the farmers are not left with any loss.