Page 70 - March EW PDF 24

S pe c i a l R e por t
Special Report

prices for the foodgrains — wheat and are understandable because the plain
rice — that have made ‘ship-to-mouth’ truth is that despite suffering the
India self-sufficient in foodgrains pro- worst excesses of colonial exploita-
duction. tion and providing unstinting sup-
S OMEWHAT PARADOXI- dom movement, there’s no denying
port to India’s unprecedented free-
CALLY, Punjab’s relatively
that rural India has been continuously
wealthy farmers are in the
the gains of freedom and national de-
forefront of the agitations short-changed on the issue of reaping
which forced the Central government velopment by way of adverse terms of
to repeal the three farm Bills of 2021, trade between town and country. As a
and also in the current agitation for result MPCE (monthly per capita ex-
legally guaranteed minimum support penditure) of rural citizens at Rs.3,773
prices for 23 crops plus several other is half of urban Indians (Rs.6,459).
demands mentioned above which The pathetic standard of living of
have the potential to wreck the Union the vast majority of rural citizens is
budget. “If they had done their maths, also reflected in the abysmal infra-
representatives of the 200 farmers’ Kaushal: budget wrecking proposal structure of the hinterland. Motor-
unions participating in the latest pro- able roads, public transport, health
tests would have realised that GoI Kaushal. Likewise, the demand that centres, functional schools and higher
(government of India) cannot meet India withdraws from the WTO will education institutions, law and order
their list of demands without risk- rule out Indian farm produce exports personnel are conspicuously absent in
ing a severe fiscal crisis, sabotaging forever. Other demands contained in India’s provincial landscape.
rural banks and disincentivising and the protesting farmers charter such as Indeed a visitor from another plan-
disrupting (internal) migration which pensions of Rs. 10,000 per month for et is certain to identify rural Bharat
is the bedrock of farming in the three all farmers and farm labour over 60 whose residents are differentiated
states. Giving in to famers’ demands years of age is likely to spiral Central by clothing, premature ageing, and
would be most irresponsible,” wrote and state governments revenue ex- visible malnutrition, as citizens of a
Dr. Neeraj Kaushal, professor of penditure, leaving very little capital totally different country from urban
social work at Columbia University, spending to build rural infrastructure, India with its swish motor cars, glitzy
USA, in the Economic Times (Febru- essential for long-term viability of In- shopping malls and big weddings.
ary 16). dian agriculture. The vast majority of citizens of Bharat
Dr. Kaushal’s viewpoint that the Nevertheless, these extreme de- plainly lack the confidence of free and
latest set of demands made by farmers mands made of farm union leaders equal citizens. The popular depiction
from the country’s most prosperous Devastated Maharashtra farmer: popular media depiction
agriculture belts are over the top and
cannot be conceded without severe
damage to the Indian economy and to
Indian agriculture itself, is endorsed
by most economists.
High MSP for wheat and rice pro-
ducers in the northern foodgrains
producing states will discourage Pun-
jab-Haryana farmers from switching
from water and chemical fertilizer-
intensive foodgrains production,
which has severely degraded the soil
in these states. Moreover doubling
the minimum wage of rural labour
under MGNREGA as demanded by
the agitating farmers is certain to hurt
Punjab and Haryana farmers most as
it will “disrupt” the migration of ag-
riculture labour from other states to
Punjab/Haryana, as argued by Dr.

70 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2024