Dilemma of Indian Agriculture

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Farm laws are the most burning issue not in India but in the whole world. But most of us are not sure what actually is the problem and who are the stakeholders. Let's get directly to the point. The Government of India passed farm laws in November 2020. There are 3 laws or we can say acts. One says that there is no limit on holding, second says that farmers can sell their produce anywhere there, is no restriction of district mandis and the last one relates to the contract farming laws in India.

But the one thing that is creating furore is the absence of clause related to MSP in the laws. The situation is that farmers don't have bargaining power because their produce is very perishable and thus they have to sell their produce within one week of harvest, in case of wheat-rice especially. Thus, MSP was serving as a as an anchor for farmers to have a selling price which is covering the cost of cultivation.

But with the scrapping of this MSP, the farmers have even lost that last element of bargaining and this can be said as the last nail in the coffin. In India production of grains is ample and there are very less chances of shortage on supply side. Therefore, with the passing of these farm laws, corporates will be able to buy the production from farmers directly and without any supply shortage and obligation of MSP. Thus, these laws are considered as black laws for farmers. Though on long term, these are very much needed because for an open economy to survive there must be an open market and there must be competition. But these open market and open competition situations have come from western markets, where there is homogeneity in the market in terms of number of crops being sold and the supply side is also very much informed and technologically advanced. Also the farmers in this western markets are large farmers and they've got storage technologies as well as information regarding the market and thus they can exercise a good degree of bargaining power. That's where the whole problem lies. Now the Indian government thinks that this western ideology of development of open market and competition will develop the Indian agriculture but the factors are different in Indian market. Also, in developed markets, farmers get a lot of subsidy that gives them question cushion, and they don't need any kind of MSP. Every developed or developing market in the world have some kind of protection given to the farmers. But in case of India, these laws were passed without any protection for the farmers. Here 84% of farmers are small and marginal farmers and in terms of bargaining power considering perishability, even large and corporate farms can’t exercise bargaining power. That's why farmers are demanding for MSP to be made as a law. This situation is unprecedented because the whole world has eyes on India as India may become the first country where MSP can be made a law. This law will serve as universal basic income for farmers. If India pioneers in this case, then the farmers in the whole world will demand for this MSP as a law in their respective countries and industrial and Silicon development have degraded the environment so much that it's high time that we give a look towards the sustainable businesses that is agriculture. Apart from these problems, the laws were passed without any due debate in the parliament and they were passed in such a hurry that even if they would have been valid they would they should not have been passed at all because it is a threat to democracy.

Government is trying to curb this protest in any way possible. They tried to give it a name of Khalistan backed movement, then they tried to showcase that the farmers that are protesting are very rich and they have backing from Congress, they tried to instigate violence at some places and the person who hosted the saffron flag, that was even misrepresentation of facts that he threw the flag of India, also some even say that he had some connections to BJP. There are even messages circulating on the WhatsApp saying that Saudi Arabia is also a country where there is no farming and still they are a developed country with high growth rates.


These are propagandas spread by different parties. This protest is a flowing river and everyone will wash their hands for free (Behati Ganga). The recent support from Rihanna and Thunberg has made this protest a global protest. The hardcore followers of the BJP have tried every skill they can use to link Rihanna to Khalistan and Pakistan. These farm laws  showcase the two visions of development one is western and another one is the Indian development where the profits are not only the sole criteria of development but the people and their prosperity in terms of the food they eat how much happy they are etc. Now it's our choice, whether we want to choose western development as a reference line or not. If you think yes west is development then farm laws are a good choice and if not then no.



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