Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NDA trounces agrarian crisis to win rural areas -Jitendra

NDA trounces agrarian crisis to win rural areas -Jitendra

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 24, 2019   modified Modified on May 24, 2019
-Down to Earth

Despite the rural hinterland being in the throes of agrarian distress, the incumbent coalition has won handsomely in these very areas

The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has beaten all odds to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Prominent among these odds was the agrarian crisis that rural India is currently in the throes of.

Since 2014, the country has suffered two major droughts and 850-odd incidents of crop losses due to freak weather events. Finally, in 2017 and 2018, when there were bumper harvests, the prices crashed.

With nearly 250 districts affected by drought, farmers have sown less this winter. This means that neither does a farmer have the base capital to invest, nor does s/he want to risk going back to agriculture.

In the run-up to this election, India’s wholesale and retail inflations were at 3.8 and 2.2 per cent respectively. It spoilt the mood in the farm sector, with farmers holding protests to seek a fair price for their produce. From wheat to potatoes and onions, they dumped their harvest on the road as market rates dipped to a low that could barely recover 30 per cent of their investment.

Data since July 2018 shows the inflation rate of primary food items has plummeted below zero. This deflation of prices in the wholesale market means that farmers are not making any profit.

Last December, the wholesale price index (WPI) for food components was -0.1 per cent. In July last year, it was -3.3 per cent, in August -1.4 per cent, in September -0.2 per cent, in October -4 per cent and in November -2.1 per cent. The last time the WPI for primary food articles showed negative growth was in the year 1990. It clearly shows a collapse of farm income which led to the rural crisis.

Interestingly, these were the issues which caused the poll debacle of BJP governments in prominent agrarian states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in November 2018.  But it has not worked in the Lok Sabha Polls of 2019.

In fact, the farm crisis did not become an electoral issue this time. The main opposition party, the Congress promised to provide a cash assistance of Rs 72,000 per year to poor households but it failed to resonate with the voters.

Indeed, the voting pattern of rural voters this time looks very odd. They have chosen the very leaders who have not lived up to their poll promises.

Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, North Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand are reeling under extreme drought. But this drought has not become a poll issue. The current trends of winning show rural voters have not bothered about the crisis they are facing in this election.

There are record sugarcane dues of Rs 24,000 crore across the country, especially in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. These are the highest-ever cane dues in the country. The incumbent BJP MPs seem to be leading in all these seats even as the crisis persists.

Raju Shetty of Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha, a grassroots farmer leader, is trailing by more than one lakh votes from Hatkanangale constituency in western Maharashtra. He was the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), who aggressively fought for dues payments of sugarcane growers in Maharashtra.   

Please click here to read more.

Down to Earth, 23 May, 2019, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/nda-trounces-agrarian-crisis-to-win-rural-areas-64723


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close