Industry
Farmer protests 2.0 is 11 months old. Is there an end in sight?
Summary
- The farmer agitation of 2020 had a certain opulence attached—the protest sites had massage joints, pizza and noodle stalls, and langars that fed all and sundry. The current round of protests appear to be a low-key affair, but the mood remains stern. A ground report.
Khanauri/New Delhi: It was past afternoon but the winter fog hung like a shroud over national highway-52, at the Khanauri border crossing between Punjab and Haryana. Since February last year, thousands of farmers from Punjab have occupied the highway after they were stopped from entering Haryana and marching ahead to Delhi. The winter chill, worsened by strong winds and occasional showers, cast a pall of gloom. But the elements seem to have done little to erode the resolve of protesting farmers.
This is farmer protest 2.0. During the first one, which began in November 2020 amid the covid-19 pandemic, farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh stormed into the doorstep of the national capital Delhi. Their demand was to withdraw a clutch of laws enacted by the federal government earlier that year, aiming to liberalize rules governing agriculture markets and trade. The proposition of greater private sector involvement in the purchase, processing, and marketing of crops spooked farmers, who feared the laws would weaken existing minimum support price (MSP) based purchases. In November 2021, the Centre relented and withdrew the three contentious laws.
A new round of agitation began last year demanding that the government provide a legal backing to MSP. Every year, the government announces MSP on 23 non-perishable crops but purchase at assured prices is largely limited to rice and wheat which is supplied under the free food scheme.
On the face of it, the second round of protests appear to be a low-key affair—it lacks the exuberance and opulence of the previous protest sites at Singhu and Tikri entry points to Delhi with its health camps, massage joints, pizza and noodle stalls, andlangars (community kitchens) that fed all and sundry. The facilities at Khanauri are modest, but the mood is stern.
At Khanauri, with sprawling wheat fields on both sides of the highway, about 5,000 farmers have created a makeshift village (a few hundred farmers are camping at another protest site at the Shambhu border crossing between Haryana and Punjab). They live and cook here in tents and on tractor-trolleys covered in polythene sheets to protect themselves from the winter chill. Some huddle next to bonfires cracking toasted groundnuts while others chop vegetables for the next meal. One can hear groaning noises from a handful of washing machines and the sound of water bubbling inside traditional wood-fired water heaters. A run-down refrigerator lies next to a plot of wheat, exposed to the elements—a testimony to its service during the harsh summer of 2024.
Most farmers are reluctant to speak to an outsider unless introduced by a fellow union member. An added layer of tension is the deteriorating health of 70-year-old Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farm union leader who has been on a fast unto death for 51 days. Anything happening to him will light a fire which will be hard to douse, farmers and union leaders told this reporter when Mint visited Khanauri last week.
The entire protest site at Khanauri is replete with posters of Dallewal who is also a prostate cancer survivor.
A death foretold?
On one end of the protest site is an enclosure where Dallewal lies, bedridden, under constant monitoring by a team of doctors. Most visitors are not allowed to meet him due to his frail health and inability to speak more than a few words. “His health situation is alarming but he will only end the fast when the Centre assures that MSP will be made a legal entitlement," said Abhimanyu Kuhad, a young farmer leader and a close associate of Dallewal. Beginning 15 January, a group of 111 farmers began an indefinite fast in solidarity with the ailing farmer leader.
Kuhad added that a Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture (which submitted its report in December) has recommended the same. “A committee appointed by the Supreme Court is also looking into our demands. But a law does not have to wait for another report."
Kaka Singh Kotra, a farmer leader from Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur)—the organization helmed by Dallewal—said that protesting farmers will not cremate the body of Dallewal if he dies while fasting. “He has made a will (for his property). He was pushed into a fast unto death due to no response from the government," Kotra said.
To be sure, the government did propose to purchase oilseeds and pulses from farmers of Punjab and Haryana at support prices, following a few rounds of negotiations last year. But farm unions rejected the offer, terming it a ‘contract farming’ scheme.
Implementing a legally binding MSP in India is essential not only for safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods but also for promoting rural economic growth and enhancing national food security, the Parliamentary committee had said in its report. It added that the advantages of a legal guarantee to MSP far outweigh its challenges.
Interestingly, the ongoing farmer protests are yet to see on-ground participation of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of farm unions which led the 2020 protests in Delhi. Though SKM has lent its support to the protesting farmers, it has so far stayed away from physical demonstrations. But with Dallewal’s life on the edge, farm unions are now planning to come together in a show of unity.
The rice dilemma
Rice and wheat are the two main crops grown by Punjab farmers and most of it is procured by government agencies at MSP. Then why are farmers asking for MSP to be made a legal entitlement?
Harvipan Singh, a farmer in his mid-forties who is camping at Khanauri, about 200 km from his farm in Faridkot district, explained why the MSP promise must go beyond rice and wheat. “We want to replace rice with other crops because of the falling groundwater table. But alternate crops like maize and pulses (which need less water to grow) are not purchased at MSP," he said. “The situation is similar for cotton and oilseeds. We want to leave water for the next generation to continue farming. So, we need guaranteed MSP for alternate crops. Farmers will stop polluting your air when they move away from rice." Burning of paddy stubble is a source of air pollution in the National Capital Region during the winters.
How long will they stay put at Khanauri? “As long as it takes…This is Punjab. We can only gain something by shedding blood," said 70-year-old Teja Singh, a farmer from Sangrur district.
Years ago, rice was forced upon us, Singh added, referring to the green revolution years (beginning mid-1960s) when a food-insecure India pushed farmers of Punjab and Haryana to plant high-yielding varieties of rice, going against traditional crop choices.
“Growing rice sucked up all our water. We are deep in debt. This is a battle for our survival," Singh said.
Punjab extracts 28 billion cubic metres (bcm) of groundwater annually, while its annual recharge is 19 bcm, which is unsustainable, noted a 2024 report from the Delhi-based think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Besides depleting soil health, intensive farm practices have resulted in over-exploited blocks reaching 76% in Punjab and 62% in Haryana, the report said.
But shifting from rice to other crops will not be a cakewalk, even with an MSP guarantee. This is because of the relative profitability of rice cultivation compared to pulses and oilseeds. A paddy grower from Punjab earns a gross return of ₹88,000 per hectare (without accounting for unpaid family labour and land rents), shows data from the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, the statutory body which recommends support prices to the government.
Paddy yields in Punjab are over six tonnes per hectare. In comparison, the yield of pulses and oilseeds is far lower, hovering between one-two tonnes per hectare. These low-yielding crops are also more prone to damage due to uneven rains and pest attacks.
However, farmers at Khanauri said they can replace rice with a double harvest of short-duration moong (a pulse variety which can be harvested in 60 days) followed by maize, to cover the loss of income from forgoing rice.
To be sure, a legal guarantee to MSP is not the sole demand of protesting farmers. They are also asking for a new measure of calculating cultivation costs which reflects the rental value of land and cost of family labour (also known as C2 costs). In addition, they want a waiver of farm debt and a monthly pension for farmers.
A new battlefront
On 13 January, farmer unions burnt copies of a draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM) which was released for public comments in end-November. Farmer unions say it is a clandestine attempt at reintroducing provisions of the withdrawn farm laws.
The draft proposes setting up of private markets to provide more marketing avenues to farmers in addition to government regulated APMC (agriculture produce marketing committee) markets. In addition, it allows direct purchase of crops by processors and exporters, declaring warehouses and cold storages as marketing yards, and exemption from payment of market fees on direct sale of produce by farmers to processing units.
As per the draft, these marketing reforms will improve farm gate prices and promote diversification towards high-value crops. While many states have already adopted these reforms, some are yet to implement them. For instance, 26 states and union territories have adopted a rule allowing direct marketing of crops from the farm gate, but only 14 states have notified the rules (a new rule cannot be implemented without notification).
Interestingly, the NPFAM draft also proposes creating a committee of state agriculture marketing ministers on the lines of the GST (goods and services tax) council. The objective of the committee will be to push marketing reforms by creating a unified national market with a single registration for traders and a single fee for transactions. Currently, states charge different fees and taxes on trade of agriculture commodities which leads to fragmented markets.
A minister’s council is a good suggestion but whether such a body can be formed depends on the willingness of states to join it since agriculture is a state subject under the constitution, said C.S.C. Sekhar, professor of economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University.
According to Sekhar, who is also part of a committee constituted by the centre in 2022 (on ways to make the MSP regime more effective and transparent), the onus of providing support prices cannot be shifted to private buyers. The government will have to implement the law either by mopping up the surplus supply, thereby lifting prices higher, or provide farmers the price difference when they sell at less than MSP (known as deficiency price payment).
This can cost upwards of ₹80,000 crore depending on how market prices compare with MSP in a particular year. Other agencies, including ratings company Crisil, had estimated this to cost ₹21,000 crore in 2022-23. Yet another estimate by some farm bodies said it will cost less than ₹27,000 crore.
Besides, adds Sekhar, a legal backing to MSP may not make it effective. “We have a rural employment guarantee act in place but after close to two decades, it did not ensure the promised 100 days of work (to every rural household) in a year. Just making something legal does not ensure it will be implemented," Sekhar said.
However, the Punjab farmer has a political-economy solution to this, which a few summed up with a local idiom: jiska lathi, uski bhains (he who owns the stick, owns the buffalo). “Right now, there is no law to hold the government to account on its MSP announcements. Give us a law and we will show how to have it implemented with all our collective strength," said Teja Singh, the 70-year-old farmer quoted earlier.
