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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Constituency Of Farmers -Ajay Vir Jakhar

Constituency Of Farmers -Ajay Vir Jakhar

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published Published on Dec 12, 2018   modified Modified on Dec 12, 2018
-The Indian Express

Assembly election results show that deceiving farmers comes with a price

Frustration on the farms has reached an inflexion point. All of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises could actually go against him. To gauge if the farmers’ anger can become a potent political force in 2019, it is important to understand the “farmer’s identity”. Identities rarely exist in neat silos, and that is true of the farmer as well. In India’s rural areas, identities are multi-layered. People identify themselves along multiple lines — religion, caste, language, occupation, region, land ownership, positions in the government or simply aspirations.

Livelihoods in villages are no longer self-sustained, but are tied to market forces. In the quest to increase farm productivity, agriculture universities introduced monoculture. As a result, farmers are now dependent on markets for not only selling their cash crops but their daily needs as well. The latest NSSO survey reveals that 48 per cent of the income of agricultural households comes from cultivation. Ever since the forces of liberalisation were unleashed, millions have been forced to leave villages to look for work. Each migrating family has swelled the rank of consumers. Today, a majority of farmer families have at least one earning member working off the farm. As consumers, they too are hurt by the rising food prices.

The implementation of the Mandal Commission Report and the institution of panchayati raj have changed the social fabric, politics and the traditional power structure in villages. Identity politics based on caste-backed job reservations has proved a stronger glue than associations that draw on occupational identities. Farmer leaders, who steered clear of the caste divide, lost relevance in Indian politics. The presumption that farmers are not a potent political force has resulted in a vacuum, where there are hardly any farmer leaders in the top echelons of political parties. The leadership space has been ceded to those who have never farmed, aren’t dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, own businesses, live in cities or have children who work abroad. Farmers do not easily repose trust in such leaders. Therefore, the farmer agitations amount to little more than sound and fury. The urban electorate’s support for farmer agitations is deceptive — it’s an illusion that will last till inflation is low.

Political parties and their leaders have promised simple solutions to complex problems. The majority of farmer groups are aligned to political groups whose agendas draw on populist manifestos, which cannot be implemented. Most times, these documents make conflicting promises like subsidised inputs, C2+50 per cent MSP, organic farming, assured procurement, cash transfers, income security, loan waiver, continued PDS, universal basic income and universal healthcare and education. Farmers latch on to the parties that make these promises in the hope of improving their lives. However, the failure to implement populist commitments like farm loan waiver has not resulted in the toppling of regimes. Such failures will come to haunt new dispensations in the future.

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The Indian Express, 12 December, 2018, https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/constituency-of-farmers-issues-assembly-election-results-ss-5489061/


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