The Recent Farmers' Stir Brings Up Different Agrarian Questions

It is a common misconception that any sort of agricultural development programme in India only means increase in production level helping the poor and marginal farmers by several government initiatives.

- Kishore Kumar Biswas

To supply the farmers cheap inputs, enhancement of irrigation facilities, cheap loans, development of infrastructure, etc. are some of the imporant initiatives. But the recent farmers’ stir in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala reveal that overproduction can also be a serious concern for Indian agriculture. They are protesting under the banner of Rashtriya Kishan Maha Sangh under which there are about 130 different organisations. What are their main demands from the government? The main demands are two. One is waiving off agricultural loans and second is their implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations of fixing MSP (minimum support price) amounting to cost + 50% of that of all agricultural produce. As a result of this agitation, daily supplies such as milk and vegetables have been hit in different parts of India, mainly in the northern region.

Problem of overproduction in agriculture

It is known that the reason behind the fall in the prices of a lot of agricultural goods is due to overproduction. Overproduction in the Indian situation does not mean any surplus over and above the desired requirement of agricultural products of the economy. Because one can clearly experience the average food intake of Indians is not as high as in many developed and developing countries of the world. In India, there are two sides in the economy at the current phase. On the one hand, there has been overproduction of many crops and at the same time there are hunger and lack of purchasing power to arrange square meals to crores of family members on a regular basis. In this situation proper policy of the government and its implementation is urgently needed.