Skip to main content

A farmer family, on an average, earns Rs 6,426 per month; income attributable from farming is only Rs 3,078

Counerview Desk
This is the fifth article in the series “One Can Not Keep Mum Now!” sponsored by the non-political organization, Save Democracy Movement, and prepared by former Gujarat chief minister Suresh Mehta, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Gujarat) general secretary Gautam Thaker, environmental expert Mahesh Pandya, and economists Prof Rohit Shukla and Prof Hemantkumar Shah:
***
The condition of farmers and agriculture in Gujarat is bad, even though tall talks of development are being recited. Farmers do not get viable price of their produce, and they are sinking into debts because of ever-increasing cost of the essential inputs for farming year after year. In Gujarat, there are 52 lakh farmers and 68 lakh agricultural labourers. Thus, 1.20 crore people are directly associated in farm activities. As per a simple calculation, the source of livelihood of approximately 3.60 crore people of Gujarat is derived from agricultural activities. This represents about 55% of the total population of the state.
Moreover, there are those working in storage/ preservation, transportation, marketing etc. of agricultural produce. They are another 10%. Further, another 10% people are associated in manufacture of fertilizers, insecticides, packaging bags, transportation and distribution. If we add to it ancillary occupations such as dairy and animal husbandry sectors, then this ratio will exceed 70% of the total population of the state.

Economically viable price of agricultural produce is not being realized:

In Gujarat, the farmers do not get viable price for their agricultural produce and the government is hardly worried about it. This year, the support price of groundnut was fixed, but it is not purchased at the fixed rate. On the other hand, the price of cotton, which was hovering around Rs 1,500 five ago, has now reduced to Rs 800 this year.
Although the production cost in farming is increasing, farmers do not get sustainable or reasonable realization and hence they are sinking into debt. The price of fertilizers, seeds and insecticides/ pesticides has risen exorbitantly because the government has reduced subsidies.
One farmer family, on an average, earns Rs 6,426 per month, and the income attributable from farming is only Rs. 3,078. The remaining income is earned from animal husbandry and salary from sundry labour and miscellaneous tasks. Thus, agriculture has not remained a main source of income.
Because of negligible realization from agricultural produce, farmers have been compelled to throw away their produce on public roads. Recently, farmers of Surat and Deesa threw their vegetable and grain produce on public roads.

Difficulties in obtaining power connection:

It is a fact that farmers in Gujarat are facing severe difficulties in getting the power connection. In 2017, some three lakh farmers are yet to get power connection. Looking at the pace of providing power connection, the remaining farmers will not get it even in coming five years.

Suicides committed by farmers sunk into heavy debts:

Farmers become debtors, and if they cannot bear debts, they commit suicide. In Gujarat, during the last 17 years, 10,000 farmers have committed suicide. Only during a span of three years, i.e. 2013-15, as many as 1,483 farmers committed suicides in Gujarat. If the party that came to power in 2014 had implemented the promises made by it, these suicides could have been avoided. During 2003-07, 483 farmers committed suicide, and during 2003-12, as many as 4,874 farmers committed suicide. The government is not providing assistance/ succour to dependent family members of the farmers who committed suicide.
On the other hand, it is a fact that farmers do not get loans at cheap rates. The Government of Gujarat made the announcement in the budget for the year 2017-18 to offer loans at 1%, to the farmers. For that, it has made provision for Rs 500 crore and has stated that 14 lakh farmers would benefit. It means that one farmer would get loan of just Rs 3,571 only. One really doubts the intention on the part of the Government.

No compensation is offered in the cases of accidents:

In spite of promulgating it for three times, the Modi Government could not amend the land acquisition Act. The Gujarat Government made amendments in the Land Acquisition Act overnight on the same line on which the Modi Government wanted to enact for the country. By making these amendments, the Gujarat Government has made a conspiracy to snatch the lands of the farmers at a very cheap rate. Arrangements have been made to take away farmers lands without their consent. In the year 2009, by passing the Act on SIR (Special Investment Region), the Government conspired to hand over farmers lands to industrialists at throw away prices.
Moreover, a new law was enacted on irrigation by the BJP Government in Gujarat which is aimed to ruin farming. If this Act is stringently implemented then farmers will be compelled to cease to do farming and will be forced to sell off their lands. Under this Act, farmers have been reduced to the stature of slaves of irrigation department officers. This Act reminds us of the British Govenment in pre-independence times which had enslaved us.

Cheating by the Government in Crop Insurance:

Farmers do not get money of crop insurance. The Modi Government has started the scheme under the new name of Fasal Vima Yojana (Crop Insurance Scheme) in place of the earlier/ old scheme. But farmers of Gujarat will not get benefits up to 100% of the losses suffered by them. In the year 2016, during the Kharif season, insurance under this scheme was taken for Rs 3.66 crore out of a total of 11 crore farmers in the country. Gujarat ranked 10th in the country as a whole in 2016, whn the amount of Rs 1795 crore was paid towards crop insurance. Assuring that 10 lakh out of 52 lakh farmers in Gujarat got the benefit of crop insurance; it works out to be Rs 17,950 per farmer. On the other hand, due to crop failure, farmers have to suffer very heavy losses. The Gujarat Government is cheating farmers this way.
In the Centres budget for last year, it was stated that in the coming five years, income of farmers would double. In this direction, the Govenment has not initiated any even step. The Government has not done anything at all in the direction of giving 50% compensation on the production cost for agriculture, which was suggested by the Swaminathan Committee.
During the war in the year 1965, the late Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri had coined the slogan of Jay Javan Jay Kishan. But this Govenment is neglecting or avoiding the interests of farming community.
This is a suicidal step. Increasing population of the country could have been supported or subsisted on the basis of Green Revolution and White Revolution. Due to the present Government's anti-farmer steps or policy, Toor Dal was being sold at Rs. 200 per kilo. Vegetables like onion, potatoes and tomatoes also touched the price level of Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kilo. Due to this, 45% of children and many more women in the state are suffering from lack of nutrition. For the future generation of Gujarat, clouds of disappointment and distress have started to spread out in all sides.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.