THE FARM LAWS IMBROLIO : NO WAY OUT IN SIGHT
The Farmers ’ agitation against the three Agri- Bills passed by the parliament is now more than 50 days old yet there seems to be no way out soon . The Supreme Court of the country has suspended the implementation of the farm laws in a bid to persuade farmers to come to negotiating table . It has also set up a fourmember expert committee to negotiate between the farmers and the government .
However , farmers are adamant in repeal of the Bills and made it clear not to appear before the Committee . The suspension of Bills till further orders of the court was aimed at calming the protesters and convincing them to discuss the legislation with the government .
The Farmers unions say that the agitation will continue till the three farm laws are completely repealed . The Supreme Court ' s stay to the laws and constitution of an expert committee will not deter the farmers to put on hold their agitation . These are only delaying tactics and the government is playing a game . Peaceful agitation will continue indefinitely till the 3 farm laws are repealed .
Nearly 10 rounds of talks have been held between farm unions and the government so far . Many more rounds of talks may be in pipeline .
The Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the central Government is Committed to follow the Supreme Court directions whole heartedly .
THE TRIANGLE
Farmers are facing problem of low MSP which is not matching with the production cost for the last 70 years . In fact all the previous governments just avoided the issue of proper pricing for the farm products . Here is a TRIANGLE of farmers , government and the consumers . While the government wants to
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maintain the price level for the consumers , it has to keep the prices of agri-products low . At the same time the farmers lobby kept demanding high prices for their produce .
Again there is a TRIANLE of Inflation , Price Level and the Fiscal Deficit . The RBI is keeping interest rate high so that inflationary pressure is kept in control . Again the government gives subsidies to farmers on various counts like fertilizers , pesticides , seeds equipments etc . Raising any one of these goes against the other . Interest rates if high will make farm credit difficult and will encourage various state governments to adopt policy of Loan Waivers for the farmers . This again goes to increase NPAs in Banks and causes greater fiscal deficit in the Central Budget and ultimately the inflation ..
This ongoing agitation is causing great loss to the economy . Not all farmers are unhappy over the three farm laws , these are only farmers from Punjab , UP and Haryana who have been camping on the borders of the capital . It seems to be more a political agitation rather than the farmers ' grievances outburst .
GREAT ONUS
The ongoing tussle between the farmers and the government throws great challenges to the later . Farmer unions want a legal right on MSP so that all 23 agri-produce are purchased by private traders on or above MSP but not below it . If this happens the government will have to shell out a total of `17 lakh crore which will be ¾ th of the total government revenue . This will bring all development projects in doldrums .
Finally , the government has to tread its path only through negotiations during the forthcoming rounds of talks . Farmers ' agitation is peaceful so far and any use of force to control them will be counter – productive .
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Economic Challenger // ISSN 0975-1351 / Issue 90 , January-March 2021