The other day former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh emerged from a long self-imposed exile to commiserate with the Punjab farmers. For his first public appearance in years, he chose the Khanna grain mandi in Ludhiana district to highlight the continuing suffering of farmers on account of tardy procurement of paddy by state agencies. In particular, he targeted the AAP Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for failing to address the problems of farmers, commission agents and aartiyas. The senior leader who is now with the BJP pointedly criticised the AAP leaders for being deaf to farmers’ woes, though they were happy egging on their protests only a couple of years ago against the Modi government. The former CM undertook to take up the grievances of the famers with the prime minister. A few days later, Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi committed to procure `each and every grain by November-end.” But the problem is that November-end could be too late. With unseasonal rain the delay in procuring the paddy lying in open fields and mandis it could result in avoidable losses for the growers. Besides, for late sowing of rabi crop farmers would be tempted to clear the fields by burning stubble, further deteriorating air quality in the entire region. Pollution levels are already too high in northern India, including Delhi and the national capital region, but if Haryana and Punjab farmers are led to burn stubble to clear fields these could rise to dangerous levels. The AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal very conveniently had shifted the blame on the Punjab farmers so long as there was a Congress government in the state. But now he does not say a word edgeways about the failure of the party government in the state to control stubble burning. Failure of the Mann government to lift paddy from the Punjab mandis due to the reported paucity of warehousing facilities underlines the ham-handedness of the AAP ministers. As a result, protesting farmers are now blocking main thoroughfares and state highways to target the AAP government. Of course, there is a larger problem that besets the administration. It is a problem of plenty. We now grow far more food than we can procure and store in warehouses. We warehouse far above the higher levels required for food security and for distribution through the nation-wide network of fair price shops. For instance, in Punjab alone of over 185 lakh tonnes of paddy procured last year in the months of October and November, well over half still remains in its warehouses. The state government pleads this factor for procuring only about 71 lakh tones of paddy till a couple of weeks ago. In the meanwhile, farmers are getting restive, for un-cleared fields would deny them the opportunity to sow the next crop in time for it to be harvested in early or mid-April next year. The entire crop cycle is affected due to the failure of the Mann government to anticipate the trouble in the grain mandis in the state.
Aside from the recurrent problems arising from slow procurement of paddy, there is a deeper malaise at work in the agriculture sector. Despite half-hearted incentives farmers in Punjab and Haryana are proving hard to be weaned away from the cultivation of paddy. Not very long ago only a small percentage of farmers grew paddy in the two states. Better irrigation facilities and free water and electricity, subsidised fertilisers, etc., encouraged farmers to grow rice rather than diversify into cash crops such as maize, sunflower, sugarcane and moong dal, etc. Paddy is a water-guzzler but because state agencies are obliged to procure every grain of paddy, farmers refuse to diversify into cash crops. It is here the collective will of political parties would come in handy, but due to broken politics each party in opposition feels obliged to support farmers who seem hell-bent on sticking with the two-crop wheat and rice cycle. A determined leadership would initiate a fresh dialogue with farm leaders, clearly spell out incentives up front for switching away from paddy, and then firmly put a cap on how much tonnage of it can be procured annually. Unfortunately, well-meaning farm sector reforms were stalled by vested interests egged on by the Opposition. The upshot of this myopic attitude is the AAP government in Punjab is now shying away from the same farmers whom it had encouraged to protest earlier. In sum, partisan politics too needs to have some important no-go areas where larger national interest ought to be foremost.
