There seems to be clear political rationale as why Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was serving her second stint as food processing minister in Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, suddenly resigned last week. Coming from a state where alignment with farmers’ issue often determine the fortune of political outfits, it had probably become imperative for the Akali Dal to now openly express displeasure with NDA government’s decision of farm sector facelift with three ordinances – The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.
With the rising protest of farmers in Punjab and elsewhere against the new agri-order these provisions intend to usher in and the present state government led by Captain Amrinder Singh of the Congress backing the agitation, it was increasingly becoming difficult for the Akali Dal to ignore the popular sentiment. “Every Akali is a farmer, and every farmer is an Akali,” this is what Sukhbir Badal, Akali Dal president and former chief minister of Punjab recently said while expressing solidarity with farmers.
That Akali Dal finding all sorts of faults in the basic mechanism of agri-reforms is a bit surprising. Harsimrat Kaur Badal as food processing minister for around six years has widely been believed to be part of the larger pro-agri reforms agenda of the government which includes some lofty objectives like doubling farmers’ income, doubling agri exports, and making India a global food powerhouse by harnessing basic production scale. She herself has been spearheading the crucial project of creating a network of food parks across the country encouraging the private players to aggressively participate in the government’s larger vision of massive agricultural rejig which will ultimately benefit the farmers.
The political pragmatism shown by the Badals in distancing themselves from the Union government, however, pose the threat of spreading out in the neighbouring state of Haryana too where Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) is a coalition partner. Chautala is the deputy chief minister of the state and going by the local media reports, he has informally made it clear to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that his party is in no mood to incur farmer associations’ ire.
The moot point is: will the political compulsions of the day ensure that the agriculture sector continues to remain a holy cow rather than emerging in a new avatar? Setting up private mandi, allowing farmers to sell directly to multiple buyers or in any market, etc are the key cornerstones which the government is intending to achieve with the new provisions but they are upsetting the equations in the rural economy which have been existing for a long time.
Diluting the powers of local designated mandis or APMCs upsets the local agrarian stakeholders
First of all there is larger concern if the Union government wants to eventually do away with minimum support price (MSP) mechanism. And secondly, the new rules may end up the local power structure that has traditionally been created around the local agri business.
Talk to any expert or even senior bureaucrats in the agriculture ministry (informally, of course), and they will tell you that MSP regime, a great political tool in an election year, is otherwise a huge stumbling block in unlocking the potential of Indian agriculture. It is because of assured increments in MSP from the Central government that farmers in some of the most fertile pockets like Punjab and Haryana are refusing to indulge in crop diversification at a large scale and still clinging with basic wheat and rice crops which India today is producing more than it needs. In a country which is increasingly becoming water stressed, over-emphasis on a crop like rice which is a water guzzler does not make much sense. The counter-argument against leaving the pricing of the farmers’ produce to market forces, will bring down their earning as private buyers will not match what guaranteed MSPs can put in their pockets.
Diluting the powers of local designated mandis or APMCs (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) also upsets the local agrarian stakeholders – most of the functionaries associated with these mandis are local political heavyweights who often have a large battery of intermediaries under their wings. Private mandis proposition may well have little space for them as against today’s equation of comfortable dominance.
The Union government, however, has responded to the initial bout of protest assertively (no attempt was made to ask Badal to stay back in the Cabinet) saying there are forces misguiding the farmers. But will it continue to remain inflexible ensuring that larger agri reforms do not get derailed? Coming weeks may provide the answer as the forces opposing the government intend to possibly multiply in number.