FORUM

DEBATE (1)

IFS Ministers are far superior and graceful .Because of high profile ministries they are always in touch with the PM.

G Tiwari

 

DEBATE (2)

Jaishankar is still like a bureaucrat and not like a politician.

Mani Joshi

 

Farmers deserve remunerative prices of crops and honorable treatment

After the annexation of Punjab by the East India company in 1849,to engage the vanquished army of the Sikhs in agriculture,  the Britishers opened Upper Bari Doab Canal in 1859,and Sirhind canal in 1882.This led to colossal increase in the foodgrains production and massive financial gains for the Britishers in the international markets.  But the farmers were burdened with the enhanced land revenue and water rate, without vesting in them the proprietary rights of the lands they tilled. Their continued miseries gave rise to  the 'Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta' movement in 1907,led by S.Ajit singh, uncle of Shahid Bhagat Singh and Sufi Amba prasad.  The farmers continued to suffer till the advent of that messiah Sir Chhotu Ram on the scene.  He got enacted 2 Acts i.e. 'Punjab Relief of Indebtedness Act,1934',and 'Punjab Debtors' Act 1936,which freed them from the tyranny of debts.

The economic condition of farmers  in general in India and particularly in Punjab has been consistently bad except for major Malwa belt, where prosperity started in the 1960s.The fruits of consolidation of holdings and ushering in of green revolution eased the situation a bit till late 1980s.But since the mid 1990s, the distress of farmers started the alarming bells in the Malwa belt with sporadic reports of farmers committing suicides due to poor financial position.  This led  some universities to undertake the research on the subject to pin-point the predominant reasons of such tragedies. In the early 2000, farmer unions and social activists started serious action on the issue and went  on to the extent of filing PILs ,when government actions to ameliorate their plight did not measure upto their expectations. The government's seriousness followed with due deliberations at the senior level.  In order to file reply to the PILs ,Chief Secretary would regularly hold  meetings ,without serious discussions to find lasting solutions to some issues, which have been bane of the peasantry  for centuries particularly indebtedness and its impact,  and unavailability of adequate prices of the crops.

In one such meeting the deliberations followed thus: Chief Secretary is addressing the senior officers, ''CM sahib has taken a very serious view of the increasing number of the farmers' suicides,so we have to address the issue to stop this and think of ways and means to rehabilitate suitably the affected families.''He looked towards the Financial Commissioner Revenue,but before she could start, a very computer savvy young Principal Secretary Medical Education said,''Sir, before coming for the meeting,i had checked the position in Australia,Canada,Japan ,Brazil and USA.There the number of such suicides have been much more.It is happening the world over.''He intended to continue ,but CS cut him short by asking,''What were the reasons and what those governments were doing to address the issue''?Frown was visible on his face.''I will find out ,sir,''was the answer given by the officer.CS further asked him to depute doctors from the Medical colleges to specifically find out the psychological reasons,if drug addiction has any role to play in these tragedies.''Sir there is shortage of psychiatrists in the hospitals, but i will do it ,''replied the officer.FCR(Financial Commissioner Revenue). who was waiting for her turn said,''Sir i have found out that Moneylenders Act is not being implemented and the commission agents were charging exorbitant rates of interest.The farmers are unable to repay the loans which result in the farmers selling the lands in distress.I have studied the The Punjab Relief of Agriculture Indebtedness Act, which lays down the constitution of Debt Reconciliation Tribunals.I suggest divisional commissioners may be designated as such to speedily decide the cases''.''But will the farmers have to travel hundreds of miles to divisional head-quarters  for their cases,which are expected to be in large numbers?When i was a divisional commissioner, i had 5000 court cases ,so the commissioners are already very busy.And why not Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars do this work?'' Chief Secretary remarked.FCR was quick to answer,''The commissioners presently have the pendency of cases ranging between 800 to 1400,Furthermore if the work is entrusted to  the local officers, they may succumb to political pressure.'' CS said ,'' ok ,we will hold a  separate meeting on this issue'.I am also inquiring about as to why Crop Insurance issue has not been materializing for the last more than half a century,so we will also discuss it in the next meeting '.Secretary Health informed that statewide campaign had been launched to nab  Chemists selling intoxicating drugs He read out the statistics of drugs seized and number of FIRs registered.Financial commissioner Cooperation said,''We are taking up with the NABARD to lower the rate of interest for farm credit.We have achieved the credit targets and our recovery..........''.He was cut short.''What you should look at is that the credit advanced to farmers is hassle-free and timely and the amount of recovery is accounted for ,o yes! Why stamp duty is being charged on Agriculture loans  ?CS asked.Financial Commissioner Development briefly informed that he had already taken up the issue with the FCR.FCR nodded, assuring early solution.CS also asked the FCD to ensure timely supply of fertilizers and subsidized seeds .He also recapitulated his tenure as deputy commissioner,  to stress the need to regularly check spurious insecticides and weedicides dealers, as large number of complaints had been pouring in.Although Principal Secretary Home was also present, DGP informed about number of cases filed against the drug peddlers. Secretary Social security said,''Sir, ostentatious living, breaking of joint family system and reduction in the sizes of land holdings may also be the cause of this tragedy, ''CS fixed the next date of meeting in which Advocate general would also be present for finalizing the reply to be filed in the court.

The ritual of such meetings continued since mid 2000  and the Bill was ready in early two thousand ten. The lobby of the commission agents weighed more than the emaciated farmers' unions and so it remained dormant under the carpet. Some farmers' leaders were rewarded with top posts in the govt, for their co-operation in perpetuating the misery of their clan.  However with the eye on the 2017 Assembly poll, the regime passed the Bill   to make it Punjab settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act 2016 on 21 March 2016.Again series of meetings were held to implement the Act, but without any visible success rendering the Act as only a glorified waste paper. The plight of the farmers continued to deteriorate.  The Assembly elections 2017 gave opportunity to the more political parties to make more promises,  even to the extent of filling up the forms of debt relief,  to entice the farmers. The debt has only been partially waived off. Since long, the farmers have become irrelevant as vote bank as the parties merge them in  agenda of  appealing mainly to caste and religion factors . This rudderless and leaderless stage may continue for substantial time ahead as the leaders prefer to become office bearers of BCCI rather than becoming ministers at the Centre and CMs in the states.The dynastic politics remains aloof from the ground realities and is guided more by the CBI's,E.D's, attitude and preferences.

Farmers are presently politically orphans.There is no leader of the stature of Chowdhary Charan singh and Devi lal to help the farmers.Farmers' main demand since long has been the implementation of Swaminathan commission's report,which mainly assures remunerative prices for the crops ,so that better financial position takes care of their honorable lives. Instead of implementing the report, the regime has been ranting since 2016 that the income of the farmers would be doubled in 2022,which slogan has remained incomprehensible to all.  And now,  three Acts have been brought forth by the regime,  which have totally devastated the very moderate dreams of the farmers. Instead of asking for anything else, they are now mainly asking for the repeal of 3 new Acts and assurance on msp, meaning thereby that they will be back in that suicide zone again. But the regime is adamant and not ready to listen to genuine demands of the farmers.  The state is in one of its worst periods since 1947,and let us hope better sense will prevail on the regime to address the farmers' issues,  rather than promising them moon and looking the other way..

Surinderjit Singh Sandhu ,Amritsar

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