Farmers Continue to Resolutely Struggle Against the Broken Promises of the Modi Government

In June last year, Mandsaur had become the epicentre of a violent clash between the agitating farmers and the police. Six farmers were shot by the police, in what they claimed to be an act of self-defence. Following the shootings, angry farmers ransacked and set ablaze a police outpost in retaliation. The chief minister, however, did not give in to the two major demands of the people, which were the loan waiver and the setting of the minimum support price for crops. The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, however, affiliated with the RSS, had decided to speak in favour of the BJP-led state government, asserting that the government was a pro-farmer government. Chief minister Shiv Raj Chouhan had even said last year, that those that were shot, were anti-social elements.

In order to commemorate the Mandsaur killings from last year, various Kisan organisations, led by the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, which is an umbrella organisation of nearly 110 peasant organisations, have called for a ‘Gaon Bandh’ from the 1st to the 10th of this month. The margadarshak of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh is the former union minister Yashwant Sinha, who recently quit the BJP. The farmers intend for the protest activities to be carried out peacefully. Amid the proposed protest, the district administration has imposed a norm upon the villagers asking them to sign a Rs 25,000 bond saying they will maintain peace in the area. Madhya Pradesh has been deeply affected by the ongoing agrarian crises, with farmer suicides on the rise, along with having drought ravaged soil.

Major demands of the agitating farmers include implementation of Swaminathan Commission report from 12 years ago, a one-time waiver of farm loans, a good Minimum Support Price (MSP) and compensation for damaged crops. During the 10-day long protest, farmers are set to cut off supplies of milk, food, vegetables etc.The farmers have also demanded jobs to be awarded to those that were injured in the police firings last year.

The entire country, in fact, has been struck by a deep agrarian crisis. The Economic Survey of India, 2018, suggests that the income of farmers has been stagnant for the past three years. It is also suggested in the survey, that on an average, the loss in a farmers income could be from 15-18% and could also go up to 25% in unirrigated areas. The Modi government has clearly failed to deliver on its promise during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, to set the minimum support price as the cost of production with an additional 50%. This was also a recommendation of the Swaminathan committee reports. In fact, in the Rabi harvest of 2017-18, the farmers lost a total of 60,861 crores on six major crops and added to this was the loss of 2 lakh crore of the Kharif season. The government also was successfully able to mislead the people, over their difference in the calculation of the MSP with the Swaminathan committee report, causing the MSP to be below the recommended amount. Also, considering the commission for agricultural cost and price(CACP), the MSP was only set for 25 crops, leaving the rest of the crops vulnerable to the fluctuations of market forces.

The year 2017, also saw a wave of farmers struggles across the nation. High indebtedness, often leading to suicides, inability to meet even the cost of production due to unremunerative prices, land acquisitions, low agricultural wages, all contributed to ever deepening agrarian crisis that burst out in angry protests in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other states. In most places, it was met with strong-arm methods by governments but such was the pressure that almost all state governments were forced to announce debt waivers.

The most significant victory was in Rajasthan where the government was forced to concede various demands after a massive movement led by the AIKS. Due to the farmer’s pressure, the government was also forced to roll-back the notification of banning sale of the cattle for slaughter in animal market. The Kisan long march, led by the AIKS, earlier in 2018, was a massive mobilisation of peasants. Even trade unions staged protests all across the nation, last year on June 16, after five farmers were killed in a brutal police attack on protesting farmers in Mandsaur. Workers participated in large numbers in protests organised in 150 districts on August 9 by the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan, a joint platform of peasant and other organisations. Workers also joined the massive Kisan Mukti Yatras that covered over 10,000 kilometres mobilising farmers. In November last year, a massive ‘Kisan Sansad' was held in Delhi in the parliament street, where the two major demands were loan waiver and the fixing of the minimum support price. A total of 184 peasant organisations participated in this struggle.

Farmers continue to resolutely struggle against the lies and broken promises of the Modi government. In the month of June and July, the farmers’ body will lead a campaign of collecting 10 crore signatures against the betrayal of various promises, including providing MSP for all crops at 50 percent above cost of production, comprehensive loan waiver scheme, monthly pension, restrictions on cattle trade, as well as the failure of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The collected signatures will be submitted to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 9 and on the same day, Jail Bharo struggles will be held in all the state and district headquarters, in which nearly two lakh volunteers are expected to participate.