Here is the bleak picture of the journey of food on our plates. “About 53.37% of farm households earn income less than poverty line income. Bihar, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry and Jharkhand had more than 60% farm households earning less than poverty line while Telangana, Sikkim, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, D&N Haveli, Meghalaya, Punjab, Kerala, Chandigarh and Delhi had less than 40% farm households earning below poverty line.”
MUSKAN RAJ
Disquieting Statistics
According to a report by The Hindu, “Nearly 90 per cent of India’s farmers have less than two hectares of land.” The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) says, “The average farm household makes less than Rs. 6500 a month from all sources of income.” Farmers survive with this meagre income, whereas a resident in a metropolitan city spends more on his gym membership. Adding to their strains, they have to find funds for seeds, pesticides, fertilisers, irrigation equipment, rent, electricity, and more. They find temporary solace with money lenders and end up paying heavy interests. According to a research conducted by Agricultural Economics Research Unit (AERU), “52% of farm households were under debt in 2012-13”. “About 53.37% of farm households earn income less than poverty line income. Bihar, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry and Jharkhand had more than 60% farm households earning less than poverty line while Telangana, Sikkim, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, D&N Haveli, Meghalaya, Punjab, Kerala, Chandigarh and Delhi had less than 40% farm households earning below poverty line.” This gives us a bleak picture of the journey of food on our plates.
The New Farm Laws
Despite this predicament the ruling government has made an open neoliberalist economic decision that favour the corporate conglomerates and the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx had indicated it when he said, “Capitalism teach a man to fish, but the fish he catches aren't his. They belong to the person paying him to fish, and if he's lucky, he might get paid enough to buy a few fish for himself.”
Removal of the minimum support price will give the control of farmers’ produce to the big sharks who are ready to make immense profits out of this opportunity which will be a cause of downfall of any poor farmer who owns less than 1 hectare of land. The new farm laws do not impose any levy or cess for sale of farm produce outside the mandi (APMC) and provides the authority to the centre to regulate farm produce in the case of extraordinary circumstances. These laws will destroy the mandi system and a farmers’ life will depend on the whims and fancies of rich businessmen sitting in Starbucks. How can these poor farmers compete with corporate oligarchs? How can these farmers feed themselves and us? How long will a farmer suffer silently?
The Protest
The farmer brethren are rising in resistance, they are organising themselves to persuade the government to take back these discriminatory laws. They are singing the ballads of struggle in unison. They have mustered the courage and every other resource available to make this a long-standing fight. The protest sites have had people from the national media clique who have accused the protestors of being funded by opposition parties, of being Khalistanis or Khalistani sympathisers, and last but not the least, of being anti-national.
We live in times where any dissent is depicted as going against the country’s ethos and considered to be insinuation of violence. We live in a country today where the ruling class considers itself as the embodiment of patriotism and nationalism. Even a poor farmer has to face the wrath of this jingoism propagated by our very own prime time channels.
The farmers remain undeterred from the agenda of the protest. They have a sense of clarity in their demands and continue to resist the attempts of compromise by the government. The protest has increasing support from all over the world: the working class, petty bourgeoisie, intellectual class and celebrities are standing alongside the cause of the farmers today. The camaraderie of the farmers is exhibited in how everything from bedding to food is arranged within the protest site to make this an enduring and stable struggle. “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries unite!”- by… you know who.∎
Muskan Raj is a student of media studies and engages with social and political conversations.
