10 Years of Modi: Why Are Farmers Angry Like Never Before?

New Delhi: New reports and videos of angry farmers in Punjab and Haryana chasing away candidates of the ruling BJP and its allies have been going viral on social media. Why are farmers so angry? It’s not just about repression on them when they wanted to peacefully protest against the now repealed three farm laws, or demanding legal guarantee for MSP (minimum support price). It’s much more.

Let’s look at the plight of farmers and some broken promises in the 10 years of the Narendra Modi government in the ‘Farmers’ Report Card’ prepared by Financial Accountability Network India (FAN India), a collective of civil society organisations, unions, people’s movements and concerned citizens.

Recall that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in 2014 promised that government would procure farmers’ produce at MSP at least one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production according to the C2+50% formula, proposed by the MS Swaminathan Commission.

Then, in 2016, Modi had again promised to “double farmers’ income by 2022.

Now let’s look at the reality on ground on Modi’s promise of “Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022”

“The 77th round of Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households released in 2021 shows that the estimated monthly income of farm households in 2018-19 was merely Rs 10,218 per month in nominal terms. This is nowhere close to the supposed target of Rs 22,610 per month,’ said the FAN-India report card, based mainly on government documents and available figures.

The report also notes the government’s silence on the market Intervention Scheme and Price Support (MIS-PSS), that ensure MSP-based procurement in the country.

“The scheme saw a drastic cut over the last two years. As per the budget estimates, the allocation for the scheme decreased from Rs 1,500 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 0.01 crore in 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively,” says the report card.

Highlighting that the MSP for the Kharif season 2023-24 announced on June 7, 2023 as neither “fair nor remunerative”, the report cards says that rather than ‘doubling farmers’ incomes,’ rising input costs coupled with unfair MSP are pushing large sections of the farmers especially, the small, marginal, middle farmers as well as tenants into indebtedness.

Also, the Modi government has claimed that the percentage of indebted farmers had reduced from 52% in 2013 to 50.2% in 2019.

Now, let’s take a look at the reality.

In the Narendra Modi years from 2014 to 2022, as many as 1,00,474 farmers committed suicide, as per the recently released National Crime Records Bureau report.

“This amounts to nearly 30 suicides per day in these nine years. Empty rhetoric, failing schemes and inadequate allocations are pushing the “annadatas” of our country into deep despair. The haunting surge in farmer suicides under this regime is symptomatic of systemic neglect,’ says the report card.

In the second term of the Modi regime – 2019-2024—total farmer suicides increased in absolute numbers from 10, 281 to 11,290, according to government figures given out by the Ministry of Statistics and programme Implementation.

“Within this, the rise in the number of suicides among agricultural workers seems to be much sharper, from 4,324 to 6,083 i.e. 41%. Maharashtra, with the ill-fated regions of Vidharbha and Marathwada, yet again witnessed the worst situation,” the report card adds.

Other promises made by the Modi regime include revamp of Food Corporation of India, take agricultural exports to $100 billion by 2022-23, setting up an agri-rail network for perishable agri produce (instead we saw more Vande Bharat trains being flagged by the PM in the past 5 years), pension of Rs 3,000 for small and marginal farmers among others.

 A reality-check by FAN-India shows that public expenditure (in relation to total budget spending) on agriculture as well as farmers’ welfare has been consistently falling.

“Looking at the growth rate of real wages between 2014-15 and 2021-22 which

has been below 1% per year across the board, including for agricultural labour. The impact is clear in alarmingly low rural demand, which constitutes nearly 36% of FMCG sales,” says the report card.

As for the rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, which has been a saviour for rural India, especially during the pandemic, the introduction of Aadhar-based payment system for wages has affected 57% workers and has proved to be “exclusionary”.

“The allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), that serves as a lifeline in such times of distress, has been seeing its allocations dwindling over the years. It plummeted from 1.85% of the overall budget in FY 2014-15 to a mere 1.33% in FY 2023-24, representing a historical low. Last year's allocation of Rs 60,000 crore marked a substantial 33% decrease from the previous year and was only 0.198% of the total GDP. In revised estimate for 2023-24 it was Rs 86,000 and it has not been increased in the estimate for 2024-25,” says the report card.

To add to all this, the Centre owes Rs 7,000 crore to West Bengal on the grounds of “non-compliance of directives”. This amount includes Rs 2,800 crores of wage liabilities. Why punish the poor workers and snatch their wages?

On the much-hyped Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the report card notes that the allocation of Rs 14,600 crore has mainly flowed into the pockets of insurance companies, not farmers. For example, “only a small sum of Rs 3,878 crore was paid in claims to 7.8 lakh farmers during Rabi 2022-23,” it adds.

On credit to farmers, the report card noted that more and more loans were being given through urban and metropolitan branches of banks (almost 1/3rd of the total loans), than the rural branches.

“As admitted here, the govt has not provided any zero per cent interest loans up to 1 lakh to farmers as promised in its 2019 manifesto.”

With climate change and extreme weather conditions ruining the agrarian economy, the farmers have been struggling against rising financial burdens, input costs, rising inflation among other. The report card calls for a fundamental shift in policies if “we are to rectify this dance of death” in India’s villages, which also explains the rising anger of the farming community coming to the fore during general election campaign.