Farmers’ movement in India has not addressed the issues of farmers of lower social strata. Substantiate your view.
Approach:
- In the introduction, discuss what farmers organizations do and their importance.
- Then in the main body, list the methods used by them to influence policymakers.
- While mentioning those methods, try to have comprehensive coverage and do not stick to the recent events only. Include methods used by them since independence.
- Then in the 2nd part, discuss their effectiveness in short and long terms.
- Before ending, do mention the reasons for their failures in various domains like clustered and regional approach; politicization of the movement etc.
- In conclusion, be optimistic and lend your support to them and mention how they can move forward in the coming times.
Answer
Farmer organizations have been at the forefront of articulating farmers’ interests and influencing policy decisions. So much so that every major political party has a dedicated farmer wing.Prominent farmers’ organizations are All India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Kisan Union, Hind Kisan Panchayat, etc.
Agriculture based organizations
- The rise of peasants groups in India has been mainly due to the abolition of Zamindari System, implementation of Panchayati Raj, land reform measures, Green Revolution Movement. They gained power since the 1960s.
- Their demands relate to procurement prices of agricultural products, fertilizer subsidy, tenancy rights, electricity charges, etc.
Methods used by them
- Prayers and Petitions– Sending representation to Ministers, meeting personally, discussing issues.
- Protests: Staging protests at state and national levels. This is mainly done on a large scale and sometimes these protests turn violent, as it happened in Madhya Pradesh a couple of years ago.
- Long march:In recent times, the long march of farmers to prominent cities for their demands has become an active medium of voicing their issues. Recently, Mumbai was gheraoed by peasants’ from various agrarian outfits. Marches to Delhi have been commonly observed.
- Media:farmers organizations have started to made in mass media and education level, there are various experts and members of these farmers organizations who constantly raise their issues and opinions through media, social media and interviews. Through this, they have tried to influence the public opinions.
- Close rapport with the State apparatus:The agrarian pressure groups also maintain close rapport with the State apparatus, viz., the bureaucratic machinery. The more organised pressure groups maintain a wavelength with the key bureaucrats and executives in framing of agri policies.
- Supporting political parties in elections:The farmers’ organizations offer support to the political parties during the election time and sometimes even during the non-election times. They control the parties through this voting-in-a-bloc mechanism.
Effectiveness of these methods:
(a)Areas where they have been effective
- The overall impact has been tremendous for landless labourers and tillers of the soil.
- Not only the farmers’ organizations succeeded in many places increasing the wage rates for agriculture labourers and securing a due share for poor peasants.
- Pressure has been exerted by organized agrarian lobbies to persuade the government to improve the socio-economic position of the farmers. Hence varied land reforms measures have been adopted since independence.
- Major reforms due to the intervention of these farmers’ bodies include abolition of Zamindari system, tenancy, reforms, ceiling of land holdings, setting up of co-operative farms etc.
- As a result of these interventions, intermediaries between the actual cultivators and the states have been abolished.
- These organisations have pressed governments to pursue better realisation of prices for farm produces through policies like MSP and agri export policies etc.
(b)Grey areas
- The overall impact of these groups and organizations has been feeble when compared to other big economies.
- The overall political voice and influence of these groups has been less.
- The organisations have limited territorial reach because of fractured mandate, political party’s support, geography and various other factors.
- These organizations have become a tool for the vote bank politics and because of lack of a truly national organization since last couple of decades, has rendered these organisations ineffective in their persuasiveness.
- The interplay of language, caste factor, weak financial positions, etc. have been greatly responsible for non-emergence of national level pressure groups.
- Farmers’ organised groups largely influence the administrative process rather than the formulation of policy. This is dangerous as a gap is created between policy formulation and implementation.
- Unlike the farmers pressure groups in the developed countries of the West, where these are invariably organised to safeguard economic, social, cultural interests, etc. of farmers, in India these groups are organised around regional and ethnic issues.
Despite the limited impact, farmers’ organizations are indispensable to our democratic process. The fact that the government cannot ignore them and has to engage with them, talks of the weight they possess.
