Government should stop lying about MSP: Haryana farmer union head Gurnam Chaduni on farm bills

 The Caravan

September 29, 2020

Since July, after the central government introduced three ordinances related to procurement and sale of agricultural produce, farmers in Haryana and Punjab have been protesting against the new policies. These protests intensified significantly after the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the ordinances as bills—the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. 

In the ongoing farmers’ movement in Haryana, a farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni has emerged as a prominent face. Chaduni has been leading farmer agitations in Haryana for nearly thirty years. He is also the president of the Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. He has organised several large demonstrations in Haryana against the three ordinances that have now been passed into law.

Mandeep Punia and Amit Ohlan, two independent journalists, spoke to Chaduni about the bills and the current regime’s approach to farmers’ issues.

Mandeep Punia: Till 1980 or 1990, there were many members of Parliament who were represented peasant politics. This is no longer true. Parliament now seems to have become a club of millionaires. So, is it not meaningless to look towards it for reform?

Gurnam Singh Chaduni: You are right. At this time, there is not a single MP raising the voice of farmers in Parliament. But what do we do? We have sent these MPs to Parliament by voting. Now if they are doing this to us, then our only option is to agitate, which we are doing. In the 2019 [Lok Sabha] elections, we had tried to send some farmer representatives to Parliament, but people voted in the name of religion and caste instead of farming. Now,the people who were voted in are betraying farmers and have brought anti-farmer bills to make Ambani-Adani richer [referring to the billionaire businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani].

Amit Ohlan: What is there in these three bills that will break the back of the farmers, which the agitating farmers are not at all happy with?

GSC: There are two or three such things in these three ordinances that are a deathly blow to farmers. These laws promote the sale and purchase of products outside the mandis [government-run vegetable marketplaces]. The tax that is applicable inside mandis will not apply in the marketplaces outside, so all traders will start buying produce outside, and gradually the mandis will fizzle out. With the end of mandis, the minimum support price, or MSP, will also be automatically eliminated. In this scenario, we are demanding that the government bring a law that makes it illegal to buy below MSP outside the mandi and that offenders be punished with imprisonment for five years.

Also, in the case of contract farming, if there is some dispute between the farmer and the contractor, then this law prohibits the farmers from filing a case in the court. If a company or contractor cheats the farmer, then his hearing will be up to the SDM [sub-divisional magistrate] only. Bribe-hungry officers will never listen to the farmers. Big companies will pay them off and together they will bleed farmers dry.

In the case of contract farming, the farmer is in a lose-lose situation. Suppose at the time of sowing paddy, I make a deal with a company that it will buy my paddy for Rs 20 per kilogram. By the time of harvest, if there is a recession in the world market or in the Indian market and the paddy starts to sell for Rs 15 per kilo, then the company will begin to make excuses that my crop is not of good quality, or there is moisture in it, or that the paddy is broken. It will not buy it. It is not as if the farmer has a laboratory where he can check whether his paddy will be of good or poor quality.

Conversely, if there is a boom in the market and if the paddy becomes Rs 25 per kilo or more, then the farmer will be forced to sell the entire crop for less, and even if he wants, he will not be able to break the contract. The company can cite the contract and buy the crop for a low price. So, the company has many excuses for breaking the contract. But the farmer does not have any.

Reference: https://caravanmagazine.in/agriculture/government-lying-msp-farmer-union-gurnam-singh-chaduni-haryana-bku-farm-bills



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017 arrested his
Read more

J&K Cricket Board Scam: Chargesheet Filed Against Farooq Abdullah, 3 Others By CBI

OUTLOOK July 16, 2018 The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah and three others. The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and three others in a special court in Srinagar in connection with alleged irregularities and misappropriation of funds in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. After the fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP government, this is the biggest development that has taken place in the state. The National Conference has not reacted to the chargesheet so far. The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah, the then president of JKCA, Md Saleem Khan - the then general secretary, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza - the then treasuer and Bashir Ahmad Misgar, an executive in the J&K Bank. The BCCI gave Rs 112 crore t
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav
Read more