The Hindu Business Line : A chance to do justice by Vidarbha's farmers

While farmers of the region are hoping for the best outcome from the Prime Minister's fact-finding visit to Maharashtra's Vidarbha district, it would be fitting and in the larger interests of the nation if agriculture is to occupy centrestage, at least in Act 2 of the reforms show.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will be visiting the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra from June 30 to July 3 to find out for himself what the whole phenomenon of the suicides by farmers in Vidarbha is. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra had declared a package, particularly for the districts reporting the largest number of suicides. But after the package was announced the number of suicides actually went up sharply, rather than the reverse.

The Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, held a meeting in Hyderabad of Chief Ministers of the States that were recording farmers' suicides in large numbers and decided to carry out an in-depth study to determine the main cause of the suicides, which continue despite the Finance Ministry's claims that increased credit had been made available to the farm sector.

While all farmers would wish the Prime Minister good luck in his fact-finding mission, there are certain things Dr Singh must remember if he wishes to have even a modicum of success. One, Mr Pawar's statement, based on the statistics of the Home Ministry, that there has been no major change in the phenomenon of farmer suicides is incorrect. The statistics on which it was based are themselves of questionable accuracy. The fact remains, however, that the suicides in Vidarbha are not caused by knee-jerk reactions by farmers to cataclysmic natural disasters or governmental measures. They are not linked to the droughts or the floods that the region suffered last year.

EXPLOITED REGION

It must also be remembered that this crisis does not go too far back in history. In the memory of the present generation, there was a time, not long ago, when Vidarbha was considered a richer region than Western Maharashtra. That was the time when people in Western Maharashtra prided themselves on marrying their daughters to grooms from the Vidarbha area. The tragedy in Vidarbha started somewhere around 1960s, when Vidarbha joined the State of Maharashtra as the result of a gimmick of the political party to which the Prime Minister belongs, to ensure the rule of the Congress in Maharashtra and, particularly, in Mumbai. After Vidarbha joined Maharashtra, the State government took a number of rapid measures that resulted in the exploitation of the raw materials produced in Vidarbha, which is, of course, famous for its oranges and well-known for white gold, that is cotton. The region is also rich in coal, uranium and iron. It is the major producer of thermal electricity.

All these features were exploited for the benefit of of the industrially advanced Mumbai city and Western Maharashtra. The Maharashtra State Cotton Monopoly Procurement Scheme, for example, has been solely responsible for the loss of around Rs 30,000 crore to the farmers of Vidarbha since its inception about 30 years back. Similarly, the power generated in the area, and the coal and uranium mined there are taken away on terms of trade that are patently disadvantageous to the region.

COTTON AND COERCION

These are the chief causes of the misery but, more important, the farmers have been affected because they could not get a price for their cotton that was available in the open markets of the adjoining States of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh or Gujarat. Cotton, the main produce of the farmers in Vidarbha, also happens to be one crop on which the Government has imposed the maximum negative subsidy for several years by keeping prices deliberately depressed in comparison with the international markets.

The cotton farmers lost, year after year, and got further and further indebted. This is the chronic malady, manifesting itself several years later in the form of a spate of suicides.

The farmers can stand some level of indebtedness. What they have difficulty in withstanding is the public humiliation and social stigma heaped on them by certain types of creditors. Unlike what is popularly believed, the private moneylenders have little ability to enforce cruel coercive methods for recovery of their loans because they have to live in the villages and have to be aware of village sensibilities. The commercial banks are not prone to using harsh methods of recovery, either. In most cases, the farmers are driven to suicide mainly because of the coercive methods used by the co-operative bank recovery officials, who feel that they have the necessary political support.

Another interesting aspect is that almost all the suicides are of land-holding farmers. There are very few, if any, landless labourers who have committed suicide. This proves that while the economy of cotton may have been hard hit, the brunt of it is borne by the land-holding farmers, who bear the risk of both natural calamities and governmental tyranny. The landless labourers might get poor wages, but there are no deductions made subsequently on account of the failure of crops or fall in market price. That is why land-holding farmers are much worse off than the landless labourers, in general. Enthusiastic announcements in favour of the aam aadmi might ignore this fact and do the land-holder farmers an injustice.

THE REMEDIES

Once the fact-finding mission comes to some sort of a conclusion on what is causing the suicides, the next important step is to prescribe a remedy for this catastrophe. Dr M. S. Swaminathan, in his report, had made a list of immediate measures that should be taken for slowing down the tempo of suicides. The Prime Minister's efforts would be applauded by all if he takes some action that will put immediate brakes on the suicides and also provide for the long term.

One immediate measure that can be taken by the government is to develop a land market, where the farmers who find themselves incapable of coping with the situation in agriculture would have the option of offering their lands for sale and quitting agriculture. This will also enable those with the necessary financial, technological and managerial capacity to face the problems of the WTO epoch and deal with the biotechnology reality. Also essential is the setting up of a comprehensive help-line, whereby farmers who feel desperate can immediately attract the attention of the authorities so that the latter can step in and curb the creditors using harsh coercive methods or, alternatively, offer the suffering family a package tailored to their needs to see them through the crisis situation.

The Maharashtra State Cotton Monopoly Procurement Scheme must go, and the Government must declare categorically that it is ready to purchase the cotton at the minimum support price, but that there will be no restrictions on the traders entering the market and offering whatever prices they can to the farmers. The Agriculture Minister tried this experiment in the wheat market this year, with very promising results, and there is no reason why the same experiment should not be tried for cotton.

RESTORING THE BALANCE

Dr Manmohan Singh may recall that in the days when he was the Finance Minister under the then Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, and when he kick-started the globalisation process, all the measures he initiated were related to investment, finance and industry; the economic reforms of the first generation did not touch the farm sector at all. Agriculture continues to be dominated by a number of measures that may prove cumbersome to any economic enterprise.

The Prime Minister will have to be really candid and just in analysing the situation if he wants to arrive at positive conclusions that will help save the situation. On the other hand, if he permits himself to be led by the political considerations of his party, that would indeed be a great tragedy for the people of Vidarbha and for agriculture, in general.

(The author is Founder, Shetkari Sanghatana and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He can be reached at sharad.mah@nic.in)

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