“ Ek East India Company ko nikalney mei teenso saal lag gaye, itni saari videshi companionko bhaganeyme kitne saal lagengeyi? ” (To get rid of one East India Company it took 300 years; to throw out many foreign companies that may come, how long will it take?)
This was the constant refrain I got from a group of farmers in a 25 km-radius of Bharatpur in Rajasthan on whether FDI in multi-brand retail would benefit farmers. The argument that this would eliminate middlemen and get them better price for their produce cuts little ice with most of them.
Attar Singh, in Bajera village, 8 km from Bharatpur, grows mustard and vegetables on his small farm, but his opposition to FDI in retail is big. He has come to the Kissan Kendra run by the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, which runs rural livelihood initiatives in this belt. “Today they might lure us with better prices, but who has seen tomorrow; and why would foreign companies be interested in helping Indian farmers when our own governments do not bother.” he argues angrily.
Mahindra Singh, a former teacher, now engaged in artificially inseminating cattle, is the most vocal spokesman of the group. He carries out about 170 inseminations a month, each at Rs 100, and along with distributing medicines for sick cattle, manages a monthly income of Rs 20,000. He says a pack of semen straw (tube) costs Rs 35. “The foreign companies might come in and give it to me at Rs 25. Unable to compete Indian companies will close down. After destroying local competition, after some months if they hike the price to Rs 50, what can I do?”
Other assembled farmers nod vigorously in agreement. An old man – Tej Pratap – recalls the power wielded by veteran farmer leader, the late Mahendra Singh Tikait. “Today we need leaders like him, he was the true mard ka bachcha (macho man) who spoke for the farmer and got them their rights.”
“No matching income”
Chakradhar Singh Jadon, who along with his brother owns 20 hectares of land on which they grow mustard in a village 20 km away, expresses the farmer’s dilemma eloquently.
To the question on farming being profitable, he shakes his head: “Dekhiye, aaj kisan ki kheti mei koi laabh nahi hei… kisan jo mehnat karta hei uski keemat usey nahi milti. (There is no profit in farming, our hard labour doesn’t get us matching income.)” He says his crops – mustard and fodder for cattle – fetch him Rs 1 lakh a year, which is not even sufficient to pay for the labour – Rs 200 a day – of four workers for planting and harvesting. “When we are not able to pay char aadmi ki mazdoori , when we get barely Rs 3,500 for a quintal of mustard, do you think the foreign companies will give us Rs 5,000?”
The reality is that the Indian farmer is helpless. “ Kisan ne maal paida kar diya aur mandi mei ja kar patak diya; uska bhav doosra aadmi lagata hei . (The farmer grows something and dumps it in the mandi, its price is decided by somebody else). We cannot dictate our prices. Will the foreign companies allow us to do that? If yes, then they are welcome,” he says.
A Few supporters
A minuscule per cent of farmers say if FDI fetches them better rates, it is welcome; but the majority are against the move. They talk about this whenever they get some free time, and their opinion is formed by “discussions on TV channels”.
And when there was mention of cold chain, Bhim Singh, Principal Project Coordinator of the Foundation, who is bitterly opposed to FDI in retail, said: “We use AC to cool both zinda aur murda maans (living and dead flesh). We need AC for human beings and cold chain to freeze lots of meat and thus send up hot gases. So what if fruits and vegetables will rot without cold chains. They will go back to the earth and become organic manure and replace urea and other fertilisers.”