Farmers’ card: Still in play

Ajay Jha

As the agitating farmers begin withdrawing from Delhi’s borders starting Saturday following the decision by the Narendra Modi government to concede almost all the demands of the protesting farmers, the bigger question that remains is if it is just a mere truce to buy time on both sides or the end of the agitation. The farmers’ leaders remain sceptical and either through accident or design have announced that they are merely withdrawing the agitation and will review and monitor the implementation of the written assurance given by the Modi government on acceding to their demands, every month from here on. Although assurances have been given to the farmers by the central government, the onus of implementing these demands rests with the various state governments. Since law and order under the Indian Constitution is a state subject, the onus on withdrawing police cases filed against the farmers booked by during the course of the year-long agitation as well as the task of identifying and giving monetary compensation to those who might have died between November 26, 2020, when the agitation started and withdrawal of the agitation, also rests with the state governments. Likewise, the waiving off pending electricity bills are also a state subject. The Centre has no real locus standi on the one or the other.

Identifying those who died during the agitation will be tougher still. The central government has stated that no one died at the hands of the police, which may well be true. Earlier, the government had refused compensation, saying that it did not have data to support the claim of the farmers that over 700 of them had died. But there are farmers who have lost loved ones to natural causes like age-related issues. Should they be eligible for monetary compensation, for government jobs?

Of the five states which were largely affected by the agitation, three are on the cusp of holding fresh assembly elections including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand over the next two to three months. The other two states are Rajasthan and the Union Territory of Delhi. Of these, while Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress party is in power in Punjab and Rajasthan. Withdrawal of police cases might not be an issue with any of the state governments. However, identifying those entitled to monetary compensation and fixing the amount as well as waiving pending electricity bills must be done in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand before the model code of conduct comes into force in these poll-bound states. The Election Commission is expected to announce the election schedule in the first week of January. The model code of conduct becomes effective the moment elections are formally announced and no government is allowed to announce any policy decision till the last vote is cast, lest it impacts the outcome. The three governments might have to race against time to beat the poll announcement since the Election Commission is not expected to delay the poll process. That leaves us with two demands which fall under the domain of the central government. One of them is amending laws to punish those farmers who burn farm stubble or straw, identified as one of the major causes of the alarming pollution levels during winter in Delhi and the adjoining states. While the government has promised to dilute it, it has said that since the matter is sub-judice and under the consideration of the Supreme Court, it might have to wait until the court verdict is delivered before any amendment in the existing laws can be taken up.

However, the most daunting task before the Modi government is related to giving a guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for farm produce. Besides sugarcane for which Fair & Remunerative Price (FEP) is declared each year by the Department of Food & Public Distribution, 22 farm products are already covered under the MSP. These include paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, arhar (tur), moong, urad, groundnut, soyabean, sunflower, sesame, niger seed, cotton, wheat, barley, gram, masoor dal (lentil), rapeseed/mustard seed, sunflower, jute and copra. In addition, MSP for toria (yellow mustard) and de-husked coconut is also fixed by the Department of Food & Public Distribution based on the MSP for rapeseed/mustard seed and copra, respectively. While the MSP along with the withdrawal of the three farm laws was the major demand of the farmers, it might appear that most of their demand for MSP was merely a slogan considering most of their produce, barring perishable items like fruits and vegetables, are already covered under the MSP. The government has promised to constitute a high-level committee that will hold regular meetings with the farmers’ representatives to identify the remaining crops that they want to be included in the MSP regime.

The demand for MSP which hogged