Integrated solution key to alleviating agrarian distress: MS Swaminathan

NEW DELHI: As farmers’ rage spills into the national capital, the man whose report forms the core of their demands said a integrated solution was the key to alleviating the deepening agrarian distress in the country.

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 30

As farmers’ rage spills into the national capital, the man whose report forms the core of their demands said a integrated solution was the key to alleviating the deepening agrarian distress in the country.

MS Swaminathan, the scientist credited with the success of India’s green revolution, was the man behind the 2007 report on agricultural reforms that, among other things, recommended an adequate minimum support price—one of the core demands farmers are making today.

“Among their top demands is loan waiver, so that they can get back to farming by taking another loan. The second universal demand is the implementation of my report on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) which will make farming economically viable and attractive.”

“The demand for loan waiver comes from the present non-remunerative nature of farming and is indicative of the fact economic viability is as important to farmers as to industrialists. Unfortunately, the then government did not take action on the National Policy for Farmers (NCF) when the report was presented in 2007,” he said.

The solution however cannot only be short-term, such as loan waiver.

“I only feel sorry that in the election politics solutions like loan waiver are given importance. The farmers’ basic problems could be overcome only if integrated attention is given to pricing, procurement and public distribution.”

Farming is both a way of life and means to livelihood for nearly 60 per cent of India’s population, a majority of who are women and youth. Farmers have understood that their demands will be ignored unless the protest, he said.

“Evidence of agrarian unrest has been growing and farmers have come to the conclusion that only agitation and not reasoning will lead to action on their problems,” he said.

“The Kisan Mukti March has rightly called for a special session of Parliament to discuss the problem confronting those who provide us with sustenance. It is sad that farmers who are life givers are forced to take their own life due to economic reasons. I sincerely hope that today’s Kisan Mukti March will be a turning point in the history of public policy formulation in the field of agriculture, he said

As crisis unravels across the country, both BJP and the Congress accuse the other of misleading farmers.

Take BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who while lauding the Narendra Modi government of taking “unprecedented” steps to help farmers, said Swaminathan “had also thanked the government for fulfilling his dream (of C2+50 percent MSP)”.

MSP however was one only of several recommendations in the report, which both governments have chosen not to implement in full.

Meanwhile, as opposition parties sense an opportunity in the protest, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh asked Congress why the alliance it led remained indifferent to farmers’ issues when it remained in power.

Thousands of farmers have converged in the national capital to demand better prices and waiver of agricultural loans.