Kerala Government has Given the Right Protection to its Farmers for a Long Time

The farmers' protest has held steadfast onto its goals despite the government's attempts to vitiate it. BINOY VISWAM writes that the Prime Minister ignored Kerala's steps for protecting its farmers while trying to divert the nation's attention and undermine the farmer's cause.

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As expected, the eighth round of talks between the farmer's unions and Narendra Modi's government failed on January 8. 

A government subservient to the domestic corporates and FDI could only act in the way the BJP government has done. Hiding under the hollow slogan of 'Sabka Saath', the government intends to prepare ground for 'Adani-Ambani raj' in Indian agriculture. These Swadeshivadis are eager to spread the red carpet for Monsanto and Cargill in our farming sector.

In order to prevent this, farmers are writing a new history at the borders of Delhi. 

The concrete barricades, thorny iron fences and powerful water cannons could not prevent their tractor trollies from reaching the vicinity of the national capital. They are so determined and prepared that the cold waves of Delhi winter simply failed before them. Assembled in thousands they have established a new way of life at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur, Noida and Shahjahanpur. In some ways this farmers' upsurge resembles the 'Occupy Wallstreet Movement''of the United States, the slogan of which reverberates across the world even today: 'We are 99 per cent, you are only one per cent'.

The government might have thought that they would retreat to their villages after a couple of days or maximum one week. However, this is not the mood at all among the farmers.

As a frequent visitor to one or the other centres of struggle, this author would definitely say that these farmers' struggle is unique in the history of free India. 

A self-contained lifestyle, with all necessary arrangements for food, shelter, clothing, and sanitation in place. Scores of them, young and old, with whom I could interact represent the unflinching will of a people who consider agriculture as their culture. Their utmost proximity to soil and nature have tempered as steel, at the same time calm and cool.

The firefighters in the government talk in different terms, perhaps purposefully as their own strategy to face this struggle of the annadatas (food provider). Some of them say that the doors of dialogue are always kept open. Certain others are stubborn in stating that there can be no compromise on the implementation of the three farm bills. Some others still promise a relook, if necessary, but only after two years. No need to wonder, most of these netas are trained in the ideological school of RSS that taught them essential lessons including 'bahubhashan' by preaching diametrically opposite views to gather more support.

As part of the maligning campaign the propaganda managers termed the farmers as Khalistanis and urban naxalites. But those sons and daughters of soil, who sow the seeds of hope to feed their fellow beings, maintained inimitable self-restraint to remain as patient as mother earth. Their struggle, their unity, their patience, and massive nature of their battle had made its impact on the cohesive nature of the ruling alliance; NDA. Following its oldest partner Shiromani Akali Dal, which had bid farewell to BJP, the Loktantrik Party also has come out of NDA. Another important party that shares power with BJP in Haryana continues to remain unhappy with the central government's approach to the farmers' issues.

The Modi government expected that the farmers would get exhausted and would slowly retreat from the battle front. But they are mistaken. The farmers' determination to wage the struggle is strengthening day by day. 

Now the Prime Minister himself has come forward to lead a frontal attack on the annadatas. He minced no words in expressing his grudge and disappointment while accusing the struggle as a politically motivated one. The thrust of his attack was evident when he criticized the opposition as sitting on the shoulders of farmers to target their guns against the government. In that tirade, the PM was particular to point his accusing finger against the Left-led government in Kerala. All the allegations he levelled against the Kerala government were unfounded and far from true.

As if he has invented something big against Kerala, he exhorted that there are no APMCs and mandis in Kerala. He presumed that the concept of MSP is not prevalent in the state. Without any hesitation he closed his eyes towards the basic truth about the agricultural scenario of Kerala. 

It is true that Mandis regulated by an APMC do not exist in Kerala. But that does not mean that the farmers interests are not taken care of in the state. 

In fact, Kerala is the state where farmers' rights are being protected by the government itself, much more effectively than any other Indian state. While the government of India has fixed the procurement rate for rice at Rs 18 per kilo, the LDF government in Kerala is procuring rice from the cultivators at Rs 27.48 per kilo. In the same manner copra (dried coconut) is also procured at a much higher rate in Kerala than the price announced by the central government. 

Kerala is the state where increased basic price is ensured for not only paddy but also for vegetables and fruits. Sixteen such items are enlisted by the government where the basic prices (per kilo) are guaranteed. To cite some of them, tapioca (Rs 12), banana (Rs 30), garlic (Rs 139), pineapple (Rs 15), tomato (Rs 8) beans (Rs 34), lady's finger (Rs 20), cabbage (Rs 11), potato (Rs20). Apart from crop insurance, the paddy cultivators will get royalty in Kerala at the rate of Rs 2,000 per hectare. They also have pension which is something unique in India. In 2006, when farmers' suicide became the order of the day across the country, the left front government introduced a debt relief commission that rendered a helping hand to the farmers. That saved them from suicides.

No BJP-led government in the country could even imagine the measures that the left government in Kerala has initiated for the welfare of farmers. 

Instead of understanding those measures the Prime Minister has chosen to target his political guns against the Kerala government and the farmers. Sitting on the shoulders of the corporates, his guns are loaded with bullets of vicious and meaningless allegations. The left has the moral and political authority to engage in any polemics with the BJP-led central government in this regard. It is intriguing to analyse why the prime minister has never opened his mouth about the experience of Bihar where the plight of the farmers worsened due to the abolition of Mandis in 2006.

After the three farm ordinances of June 2020, 40 per cent mandis in Madhya Pradesh have registered zero transactions. This is the reality of the farm bills. Though they claim protection and empowerment of farmers, the truth is opposite. The purpose of the laws are corporatization of Indian agriculture and introduction of contract farming. When the ministers continue to assure the continuance of Mandis they are practically pushed off from the scene as it happened in Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere.

The annadatas could foresee the evil impact hidden in the three farm laws that would eventually throw them to the mercy of corporate profit mongers. They know that these laws would ruin the backbone of the agricultural economy and severely affect the food security of the nation. 

The farmers are in the struggle to prevent that calamity from happening. 

It is high time that the Prime Minister and his government understand the patriotic and selfless role being played by the food providers of the country, and the genuineness of their struggle.The government must know that the farmers struggle is not for any other purpose, but to save Indian agriculture. 

The will of the agitating farmers is so powerful that it forced the chief of Reliance India Ltd to declare that they have no plans for contract farming. Then for whom is Modi government so adamant to go ahead with those black laws? (IPA Service)

(Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India. He also served as the Forest Minister in Kerala from 2006-2011.)