Farmer suicides: Modi's forceful land ordinance is only adding to their anxiety

The shocking act of suicide by a Rajasthan farmer in full public glare, just a short distance from Parliament, has added a new dimension to the ongoing debate on how to bring long term stability and sustenance to India’s farm economy. An estimated 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide in India since 1995. The suicide rate increases when there is a severe crop loss due to drought or unseasonal rains, as is the case now. The death of the farmer at the AAP rally in Delhi has yet again brought into sharp focus the plight of the small farmers who have really no safety net in times of distress. [caption id=“attachment_2212342” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Various farmer organisations have opposed the proposed changes to the land bill.[/caption] There was a bipartisan discussion in Lok Sabha on how to evolve long term solutions to cushion the farmers from uncertain weather and fluctuating prices for their produce. Responding to the debate in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said 60 percent of the population was dependant on agriculture but farm income represented only 14 percent of India’s GDP. So the problem is 60 percent of the people are sharing 14 percent of the national income. This is a structural problem which will need long term solutions. Yes, we need a structural shift of populations from agriculture to manufacturing and services. Nobody is disputing this. But this has to be managed through both new policy incentives and constant dialogue with the farmers. The NDA government is arguing that its land ordinance is precisely aimed at creating new industrial hubs in rural areas so that excess rural populations engaged in inefficient, low income agriculture gets absorbed in new industry and services. The BJP leaders are arguing that farm families do not want their children to get stuck in low income farming and they would rather prefer to move most of their next generation to non-farm activity. There may be some truth to this assertion but the transition from farming to industry can happen only gradually in a democratic society like ours. Prime Minister Modi seems impatient in the way his government is trying to push the land ordinance in such haste, especially in the midst of an unprecedented farm economy crisis across north and western India. When farmers are committing suicide on such a large scale the first priority of the government should be to address the immediate problem and provide relief to them. Well known agriculture economist Prof Ashok Gulati, who is also a member of the agriculture cell in Niti Aayog, says India needs, first and foremost, a comprehensive agriculture insurance for farmers. This will minimize distress in times of drought and unseasonal rains. According to him, India has very low insurance coverage of farmers. Out of 190 million hectares of gross sown areas only 15 million hectares are covered by insurance. This means only the relatively bigger farmers are covered by insurance. In China, over 80 percent of the farm lands are covered by insurance and the bulk of the insurance premium is paid by the government. Gulati says China has a system whereby most farmers have registered banks accounts linked to their land and they get relief money put in their accounts within 24 hours of any crop destruction by natural events like unseasonal rains or hailstorm. In sharp contrast, we see bureaucratic red tape after crop destruction on such a big scale. The government has announced a number of relief measures but it is doubtful whether a lot of it has percolated down to the small farmer. While the short term crises looms on the horizon, the government is insisting it will push the land ordinance as it is in the larger interest of the farmers. Have you asked the farmers what they want? Shockingly, BJP spokepersons continue to argue on TV channels that the farmer suicides should not be linked to the land ordinance which is a separate matter. Don’t they see that the land ordinance is adding to the anxiety of the farmers? Why does the BJP not realize that the farmers are psychologically damaged in the current climate and they do fear that the forcible land acquisition by the government will add to their woes? Finance minister Arun Jaitley told a newspaper that it is difficult to take consent from lakhs of farmers to build a long industrial corridor. The BJP is making a mistake if it thinks such large tracts of land can be acquired without the consent of farmers. In any case, is it not possible for Narendra Modi to postpone the land ordinance by six months until the present farm crisis gets resolved? Apparently Modi is of the view that if he backs down at this stage he will be seen as running a weak government. Some argue that the NDA government has committed to the foreign investors that it will fix land laws, labour laws and tax laws to help smoothen the flow of foreign investment. One really doesn’t know what are the real compulsions driving Modi to push the land ordinance with such urgency in the midst of such a massive farm crises in the country. It is also odd that Modi, with all his communication skills, is yet to directly go in the midst of farmers to explain the benefits of the land ordinance for the farm households. The NDA can pursue one alternative strategy. After providing the necessary short term relief to distressed farmers it could use the Township and Village Enterprises(TVE) model of China to create small industry hubs run essentially by rural entrepreneurs. The TVEs in China were highly successful in the 1980s and created massive new employment. In 25 years, from 1978 to 2003, the number of TVEs grew 20 percent annually. By 2003 end, there were 21 million TVEs employing over 130 million people. These enterprises generated 30 percent of GDP, 50 percent of industrial value add and 35 percent of the farmers’ income. Note that land acquired by TVEs was collectively owned by the people even though the management was run by entrepreneurs with financial support from state agencies. The newly created MUDRA bank can help in funding these small agro-linked industry hubs. Land for these can be acquired with the consent of Panchayats at the district level. The government needs to think more creatively about Rurbanisation. The primary condition is to take the farmers fully on board.