Issue 52 Vol III, November 30, 2007

A N A L Y S I S

Desperate Debt Ridden Farmers Taking Their Lives
Gobind Thukral

Last week some careworn farmers from Punjab had an opportunity of narrating their woes to Dr T Haque, chairman Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices. This Commission advises the Government on price policy of major agricultural commodities. It recommends the minimum support price of wheat, paddy, oil seeds and several other commodities. So its chairman was in Ludhiana, the cradle of Green Revolution, to find out the views of the farmers abut price of their produce.

And as usual when farmers meet officers, they fold their hands. Here too with folded and tears wetting his sunken cheeks, Saroop Singh, a 52-year-old farmer, begged for deliverance. “Save me or I will be forced to commit suicide. The price we get for our crop is too little to sustain us.” Saroop went on, telling Haque about his three-and-a-half acres and a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh that he had been unable to repay for the last three years. “Another difficult year and I will have no option but to commit suicide.” Luckily he had not taken the loan from an arhtiya, but from a bank otherwise he said he would have been dead by now. There was Gurbaksh Singh from Tugal and Raghbir Singh from Saharanmajra villages who narrated their woes as how the farmers are cheated by the patwaris and the banks. They pleaded that “The subsidies given to industrialists should be extended to us. After all, can the people do without food? There was not a single farmer in this room who is not under debt and if the government doesn’t heed our cries, suicides will become common place in Punjab.”

The reaction of Haque bewildered everyone though it was closer to the ground reality. With a frowning look, he snapped: “Don’t commit suicide, no one will bother. Pick up the gun, or protest in any manner you know. The Vidharbha experiment has failed; we have had more farmer suicides after the Prime Minister Relief Package than before it.” There was bemused silence in the room as Haque explained to the assembled farmers how the price they sought and the price that economists and universities recommended was hundreds of rupees apart. “No one seems to be hearing your voice.”

These farmers were telling no lies. Those enjoying political power neither see nor listen. Inderjit Singh Jaijee, a former Akali legislator and president of Movement Against State Repression has been repeatedly asserting that farmers suicides are going unnoticed. Only this week, he wrote to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee that from 1988 to date in Moonak subdivision of Sangrur district, 1508 farmers have committed suicides. The pervious government neither enquired into the statement nor denied it. The Akalis are no better.  for various reasons these suicides are not reported. Suicide is not only a social stigma which the surviving family wants to avoid; the police harassment begins the moment it is reported. In fact, doctors are bribed to declare a suicide case as an accident.

The farmers expressed their anguish against the government, the banks, the nature... everyone. Haque reiterated his call for protest. He warned, “Suicides will not move the government, protests will. Farmer unrest is a national reality that will worsen over the years.”

It is good someone heard the hapless farmers. But how would it help. Our leaders and it is quite intriguing, either blame each other or even the farmers. But do precious little. The present Akali BJP government is placing the blame at the doors of the UPA Government, forgetting all along that when it shared power at the national level with BJP, it did nothing to reduce the suffering of the farmers. Yet, Akali leaders come from farming families, but care little for them. There is no coherent agricultural policy. One day farmers are told to diversify from wheat- paddy cycle and then encouraged to go back. It is clear as day to everyone that pricing policies decide what the farmers have to sow and reap. The recent increase in the minimum support price for wheat and paddy, welcomed by the farmers, should be seen in this light. Shortage of food grains worldwide and increased demand back home has forced the government to increase the procurement price which still is far below the world market price.

Indian farmers who have faced hardships at the hands of nature, government and the money lenders were never prone to suicides at this scale. Yet debt ridden farmers all across the country rescue themselves by ending the journey of their lives. What desperation that may be! Cotton belts in Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh including Punjab and Haryana lead. During 1997-2005 1.5 lakh farmers committed suicide, this means one farmer committing suicide every 32 minutes. Signs of ever deepening agrarian crisis.

We are not absolving the center from its responsibility as its policies have a major impact. But the present Punjab government should not escape with the old rotten argument that the central government is to be blamed for the hell that Punjab is for its sturdy farmers. What are these leaders here for is the question disturbing the people of Punjab. One good gesture has come from Cooperation Minister Capt. Kanwaljit Singh who has raised the borrowing limit for the farmers from Rs two lakh per acre to Rs four lakh at just 7 per cent interest.

Research and growth of agriculture are closely related. Yet the Punjab government is starving the Punjab Agriculture University of funds. It has not provided the promised money. While it wastes in unnecessary expenditure, much needed research suffers. The growth rate of agriculture in Punjab is just 1.1 per cent. Irrigation system has been neglected for the last many years and is in jeopardy as is evident in Bhatinda district where canals have breached three times in a week. Yet the irrigation minister, the acting Akali Dal president and the chief minister keep telling they need Rs 4,000 crore to set it right.

Not only are the schemes of the Central government lying in cold storage, the state government's budgetary allocation of Rs 150 crore for agriculture is gathering dust in the files. Punjab received a grant of Rs 3.5 crore from the Centre under the cotton development programme but it has failed to provide mandatory 25 percent share, this money is lying unspent.  For cultivation of oil seeds, maize and pulses another Rs 3 crore can not be used for the same reason. Under the cereal development programme, Punjab has an unspent amount of Rs 10 crore. The Centre sanctioned Rs 2 crore for setting up residue testing labs as the state is suffering under due high use of pesticides. These labs do not even exist on papers.

Again from the promised budget of Rs 150 crore for ambitious farm projects, till October 30 not a paisa was released. These projects include Rs 10 crore for setting up citrus zones and Rs 25 crore for revival of the farm sector. No progress.

It is mandatory to form committees and without which Punjab will not get a rupee of its share from Rs 25,000 crore agriculture development plan. Also the backward region grant fund of Rs 30 crore and the rural development schemes worth Rs 250 crore will also be curtailed. The problem-the Congress has majority in the Zila Parishads and municipalities from where members of the committees are to be drawn. Is there any hope for the farmers except loud organised protest?

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Asia Continues To Rise
Dr Sawraj Singh

THE 13th ASEAN summit of the Asian countries was just held in Singapore. The major achievement of the summit was that the major powers of Asia came together and Asia moved towards more economic integration as well as towards overall cooperation and unity. It is becoming increasingly clear that Asia is emerging as the leading region of the world in the 21st century. No wonder, the theme of the summit was “One ASEAN at the Heart of the Dynamic Asia”.

The ASEAN was established 40 years ago and has 10 member countries; Brunei, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar. These countries signed a charter and a few other very important documents during the summit. These documents dealt with the economic cooperation among the ASEAN countries, preserving the environment, and regarding the United Nations convention on climate change and the Kyoto protocol. The charter tries to make the ASEAN more effective in changing the world situation. It also attempts to further increase regional cooperation and will bring qualitative change in the approach of the ASEAN countries.

The summit brought the biggest countries and the largest economies of Asia together. India and China moved closer to each other as well as to the ASEAN.  Similarly, Japan and South Korea came closer to the ASEAN. China and Japan also used the summit to break the chill in their relations.

The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. They announced that joint military exercises would be held in the southwestern Chinese province, Yunan. These will be held next month and 100 soldiers from each country will participate. The two leaders said that they would take the strategic relations to a new level and enhance the mutual cooperation.  They will increase cooperation in the fields of energy, security, and preserving the environment. The border issue will be resolved on the principle of mutual acceptance. They said that the friendship will not only improve closeness and cooperation between China and India but also will influence all of Asia and the whole world. India and China are not adversaries but are friends and partners.

The Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao also held a meeting. They decided to improve and strengthen the mutual relations. This was the first meeting of the Japanese Prime Minister with the Chinese Prime Minister after Prime Minister Fukuda came to power in September.  He said that he would visit China soon. He also said that he would like to solve the issue of exploring the East China Sea by more negotiations between the two countries.  China and Japan normalized their relations 35 years ago. During this period, the trade between the two countries has increased 200 times. In 1972, the trade between countries was 1.1 billion dollars, now it is 207.36 billion dollars.

India seems to have decided to start looking east for its future growth. The trade between India and the ASEAN has reached 30 billion dollars a year. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that he wants the trade to increase to 50 billion dollars a year.

[Sawraj Singh M.D. F.I.C.S. Chairman, Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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