Punjab would remain in a permanent dilemma
It all started after partition of India which actually we should put it as partition of Bengal and Punjab side by side,in a real sense. The brunt of partition was actually faced by people of these two states. Punjab was partitioned in nearly two equal parts .
To understand the agriculture sector, we have to go to pre-partitioned Punjab. In 1907, Punjab Land Alienation Act ,a piece of legislation was introduced by the British Raj with the aim of limiting the transfer of land ownership in Punjab Province. It created an "agricultural tribes" category ,which included Muslims, Jatt Sikh and Jaat Hindus. Most of us don't know this fact. Before partition in both part of Punjab, Muslims were dominating the demography except in hilly tract which is known today as Himachal Pradesh . After independence large population of Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs migrated to this part of Punjab .Those who were agriculturists were given the land in lieu of their holding in partitioned Pakistan . Then the agricultural land ceiling laws were enacted in the 1960s after the abolition of the Zamindari system ;it means one person can hold around 18 acres of irrigated land. It was the first stepping stone for the agriculture crisis which Punjab is facing today. As the generations passed,land holdings are becoming increasingly fragmented due to growing family sizes, showing that farms continue to be occupied in spite of their shrinking sizes. Most of families are holding 4-5 acres of land.
Now marginal, small and medium land holders, owning less than 4 Killas (acres) of land, are either selling out or (mostly) renting their farms to large farmers who can afford the cost of capital-intensive agriculture, including costly machines ,earning from Rs 30000 to 50000 per acre.Those who are toiling on their own farms,smaller it may be are finding it difficult to cope up with the cost which has to be infused.
Now come to the present crisis which was CREATED after the center passed 3 different interconnected Farm acts .Why did they affect only Punjab farmers to large extent? To understand it, we have to divide the crop pattern of Punjab into two parts 1.Pre Green revolution and 2. Post Green Revolution.
Before Green revolution in early 70s, the farmer of Punjab used to sow a large variety of crops like Wheat, Maize,Gram,Urad Dal,Sesame seeds(तिल), Groundnuts,Sugarcane,Turmeric etc .You will be surprised to know rice cultivation was only scattered to those areas which was fed with canal water. During 90s , political parties of Punjab started a dole of free 8 hours daily electricity to tube wells which prompted the farmers to change the Kharif crop pattern from various crops to only rice .Punjab started producing surplus rice by exploiting underground water in a blatant way . To add to their woes, successive central govts and state govt started procuring their entire crop at MSP which made Punjab farmers lethargic and stagnant to two main crops pattern . In my views ,successive govts pampered Punjab politically, just because it was evolving out of militancy.
Now the whole CRISIS starts, how
At present, Govts lift the two major crops at MSP in the respective mandis through Arhtiyas (middlemen) by paying them 2.5 % commission, apart from other taxes levied by the state govt. Now comes the first act of the three which was enacted by the Govt of India which became bone of contention among various affected parties in the agriculture trade i.e. Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 which permits intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce beyond the physical premises of APMC mandis .
Actually it scared the Interested parties of Punjab which include politically connected strong force of around 45000 registered Arhtiyas and the cash strapped state govt which also earn crores of Rupees from Mandi taxes . Both the aggrieved parties picked and chose two points ,one each from Act number 1 and Act Number 2 which is related to contract farming, to monger the rumours among farmers for 2 months . Farmers were told that the 'Sarkari' Mandis would be abolished and their produce wouldn't be picked up at MSP .There is no mention of it in the act, actually .
When the govt clarified in the first phase that this act won't disturb the present mandi structure and the procurement at MSP would continue. The aggrieved parties chose to pick up the contentious point in the Act number 2 and started a disinformation campaign; which is emotionally very much close to any farmer. The disinformation was deliberately spread that farmers' land would be usurped by private parties when they start contract farming for them; while the said law actually prohibits the leasing or selling of land,agreement would be for the farm produce only. The 'aggrieved' parties used the name of big industrial houses like Ambani and Adani to CONVINCE the gullible farmers who didn't know the ABC of the said acts.
It CLICKED like anything and around 31 farm 'leaders' owning allegiance to various political parties like Akali Dal, Congress, Communist fringe elements and AAP sprouted up in the farmers' favours and took up their positions. To add fuel to the fire, many singers and artists composed various controversial songs;some of them directed the youth in their songs to pick up even the guns like AK-47.
https://youtu.be/QVgY7cRi3oU
Stage was all set and the farmers were well funded to march towards Delhi,to embarrass the govt at center. As predicted, many separatist elements have infiltrated to give the whole movement a religious flavour by remembering a Hindu hater J.S. Bhindranwala who pioneered not so forgettable Terrorism Days of 80s till mid 90s. There are definitely some elements who are very much interested in reviving a 'particular movement', are among the farmers at Delhi border.
I have repeatedly said, this so called Farmers' Agitation should be called as Punjab Farmers' agitation .
PERIOD !
To understand the agriculture sector, we have to go to pre-partitioned Punjab. In 1907, Punjab Land Alienation Act ,a piece of legislation was introduced by the British Raj with the aim of limiting the transfer of land ownership in Punjab Province. It created an "agricultural tribes" category ,which included Muslims, Jatt Sikh and Jaat Hindus. Most of us don't know this fact. Before partition in both part of Punjab, Muslims were dominating the demography except in hilly tract which is known today as Himachal Pradesh . After independence large population of Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs migrated to this part of Punjab .Those who were agriculturists were given the land in lieu of their holding in partitioned Pakistan . Then the agricultural land ceiling laws were enacted in the 1960s after the abolition of the Zamindari system ;it means one person can hold around 18 acres of irrigated land. It was the first stepping stone for the agriculture crisis which Punjab is facing today. As the generations passed,land holdings are becoming increasingly fragmented due to growing family sizes, showing that farms continue to be occupied in spite of their shrinking sizes. Most of families are holding 4-5 acres of land.
Now marginal, small and medium land holders, owning less than 4 Killas (acres) of land, are either selling out or (mostly) renting their farms to large farmers who can afford the cost of capital-intensive agriculture, including costly machines ,earning from Rs 30000 to 50000 per acre.Those who are toiling on their own farms,smaller it may be are finding it difficult to cope up with the cost which has to be infused.
Now come to the present crisis which was CREATED after the center passed 3 different interconnected Farm acts .Why did they affect only Punjab farmers to large extent? To understand it, we have to divide the crop pattern of Punjab into two parts 1.Pre Green revolution and 2. Post Green Revolution.
Before Green revolution in early 70s, the farmer of Punjab used to sow a large variety of crops like Wheat, Maize,Gram,Urad Dal,Sesame seeds(तिल), Groundnuts,Sugarcane,Turmeric etc .You will be surprised to know rice cultivation was only scattered to those areas which was fed with canal water. During 90s , political parties of Punjab started a dole of free 8 hours daily electricity to tube wells which prompted the farmers to change the Kharif crop pattern from various crops to only rice .Punjab started producing surplus rice by exploiting underground water in a blatant way . To add to their woes, successive central govts and state govt started procuring their entire crop at MSP which made Punjab farmers lethargic and stagnant to two main crops pattern . In my views ,successive govts pampered Punjab politically, just because it was evolving out of militancy.
Now the whole CRISIS starts, how
At present, Govts lift the two major crops at MSP in the respective mandis through Arhtiyas (middlemen) by paying them 2.5 % commission, apart from other taxes levied by the state govt. Now comes the first act of the three which was enacted by the Govt of India which became bone of contention among various affected parties in the agriculture trade i.e. Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 which permits intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce beyond the physical premises of APMC mandis .
Actually it scared the Interested parties of Punjab which include politically connected strong force of around 45000 registered Arhtiyas and the cash strapped state govt which also earn crores of Rupees from Mandi taxes . Both the aggrieved parties picked and chose two points ,one each from Act number 1 and Act Number 2 which is related to contract farming, to monger the rumours among farmers for 2 months . Farmers were told that the 'Sarkari' Mandis would be abolished and their produce wouldn't be picked up at MSP .There is no mention of it in the act, actually .
When the govt clarified in the first phase that this act won't disturb the present mandi structure and the procurement at MSP would continue. The aggrieved parties chose to pick up the contentious point in the Act number 2 and started a disinformation campaign; which is emotionally very much close to any farmer. The disinformation was deliberately spread that farmers' land would be usurped by private parties when they start contract farming for them; while the said law actually prohibits the leasing or selling of land,agreement would be for the farm produce only. The 'aggrieved' parties used the name of big industrial houses like Ambani and Adani to CONVINCE the gullible farmers who didn't know the ABC of the said acts.
It CLICKED like anything and around 31 farm 'leaders' owning allegiance to various political parties like Akali Dal, Congress, Communist fringe elements and AAP sprouted up in the farmers' favours and took up their positions. To add fuel to the fire, many singers and artists composed various controversial songs;some of them directed the youth in their songs to pick up even the guns like AK-47.
https://youtu.be/QVgY7cRi3oU
I have repeatedly said, this so called Farmers' Agitation should be called as Punjab Farmers' agitation .
PERIOD !
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