The Farmers' lobby

AFTER SETTING A bad precedent, the Centre had no option but to succumb to the latest pressures on the farm front from Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. A couple of months ago, two of the BJP's allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Akali Dal in Punjab and the Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana, mounted pressure on the Centre to get the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to intervene in the market and procure sub-standard paddy which the farmers could not sell to the private trade. Now, another NDA constituent, the Telugu Desam, launched an offensive on New Delhi to get the FCI to buy up at least 30 per cent of the paddy on offer in Andhra Pradesh. And when Mr. Chandrababu Naidu has his way, how can the Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, keep quiet? He has got the Food Minister, Mr. Shanta Kumar, to agree to relax the procurement standards in the case of Bihar. The game goes on. The political parties, both at the national and the State level, seem to have suddenly woken up to the problems of the farmers and the threat they perceive from the World Trade Organisation and the era of globalisation that lies ahead.

Sensing the political climate, the main Opposition, the Congress, has also recast its economic policy to accord primacy to agriculture and demand reforms with a human face. It is most unfortunate that the Centre is playing around with the FCI, just because it is a public sector undertaking. The silver lining for the FCI is that it is already on the disinvestment list and the earlier it goes out of the Government's clutches the better for the Corporation. No agency can survive if it is repeatedly asked to intervene in the market to buy up sub-standard produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). These States will not accept sub- standard paddy for public distribution. It has become a seasonal lobby from the farm sector to pressurise the Centre to buy up the paddy, wheat and other crops when the farmers are unable to get a good price in the market. In the case of Punjab, there are allegations that mill owners and traders had a windfall when the Chief Minister, Mr. Prakash Singh Badal, forced the FCI to compensate so-called farmers who had sold their rice for less than the MSP because of the quality norms.

In the case of Andhra Pradesh, it has now become a habit for Mr. Naidu to force the Centre to show some special consideration. Conveniently, his Telugu Desam extends `outside support' to the Vajpayee Government. So he can extract his pound of flesh without taking responsibility for any actions of the Centre. Be it cotton, tobacco or paddy, Andhra Pradesh wants the FCI and other agencies to constantly bail out the farmers. It is high time the States start putting the farming community wise to the realities. Instead of always adding to the glut in the market in a particular crop, the farmers must be educated into taking up other commercial crops which have a better market. In the era of free power, no agricultural income tax and the choice between selling it to private trade or the Government machinery, the farmers and politicians must desist from forcing the public sector agencies such as the FCI to always bear this burden. It is one thing to protect or encourage farmers and offer them remunerative prices for their crop, keeping in mind the rising input costs. But the Government must make it clear that there can be no compromise on standards. The FCI godowns around the country are already over-flowing and Andhra Pradesh now wants it to create additional storage space. If the open market offers a better price, will the farmers want to sell it to the FCI or other agencies? The Centre must stop with outlining the policy, setting the standards and fixing the MSP. The FCI must take an independent decision on the actual procurement operation within the policy framework.

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