Updated: December 2, 2020 8:04:39 am
Farmers at the Singhu border on Tuesday, December 1, 2020 (Express Photo: Gajendra Yadav)
Most of the negotiations start from maximalist positions. It is no different in the current confrontation between the Center and the farmers’ unions on the three agrarian reform laws.
The representatives of the farmers’ organization, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, they are demanding a complete repeal of the three “kala kanoon (black laws)”. If that’s not enough, they also want the minimum support price (MSP) for crops to become a right, with the full force of the law instead of a simple policy announcement.
The Narendra Modi government, on the other hand, has ruled out any pushback, or even postponing the implementation of the new laws. To this end, these Laws, which refer to the dismantling of the APMC (Agricultural Products Market Committee) monopoly in the sale of crops, enabling contract farming and eliminating food storage restrictions, represent a statement of its commitment to economic reforms.
On Monday, the Prime Minister, at a public rally in Varanasi, denounced opponents of the new laws for spreading “misinformation” and “fear” among farmers. In conversations on Tuesday between three union ministers with 35 agricultural union leaders, the Center simply offered to set up a committee to discuss the contentious provisions of the laws. Leaders were asked to nominate members for the proposed panel, which would also have agricultural experts and officials. The unions, unsurprisingly, rejected the offer.
From a bargaining point of view, farmers are probably better placed at this time. In Punjab and Haryana, not only has the harvesting of kharif rice been completed, but even the planting of wheat for the new rabi season is all but over. Most farmers have also done their first round of urea application and irrigation, which takes place 2-3 weeks after planting.
It means they have plenty of time for agitation, which was not the case until 15-20 days ago. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana generally plant their wheat before mid-November. This leeway in wheat may not be available to sugarcane growers in neighboring western Uttar Pradesh. The sugar mills began operating at full steam for the new 2020-21 season only after Diwali. Therefore, UP farmers are now busy harvesting cane, which is their main cash crop.
This “free time” is something the government may not have fully anticipated. The timing of the capital’s siege and the ability to stay there for at least the next few weeks could work to the benefit of the protesters. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
Incidentally, government agencies have acquired a record 202.77 lakh tonnes (lt) of rice from Punjab this time, up from 162.33 lt in 2019-20 and the previous all-time high of 176.61 lt in 2017-18 . The government may have made this unprecedented purchase from the state (the value of the MSP stands at Rs 38,283 crore) to allay apprehension about new laws undermining the mandi system of existing APMC and open acquisitions. But still, the Punjab farmer who sold his rice at the MSP just two months ago is now sitting in a tractor cart on the Delhi-Haryana border.
The worst-case scenario for the Center would be if farmers continue to block the entry points to Delhi long enough to force it to give in to their maximalist demands. That would include not only repealing or suspending its farm laws, but also making MSP a legal right. In other words, far from advancing, this would amount to a setback even beyond the pre-reform situation.
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The government, at all times, has maintained that its legislation on allowing trade in agricultural products outside of APMC mandis “has nothing to do with MSP.” The MSP, as the Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar rightly argued, never had legal backing. Although MSP is declared for 23 crops, there are limits to its application, either through government purchases or by forcing others, such as private traders, processors, organized retailers and exporters, to pay.
As it stands, the farmers have apparently won the first round. The government may have to give in to its maximalist position. In any case, you cannot afford a scenario where conferring on farmers “the right to sell in MSP” becomes the main demand.
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