 "What is causing distress among erstwhile dominant castes?")
Hardik Patel, leader of the agitation of Patidars demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, said in a recent interview that while their grandfathers used to own 40 acres 30 years ago, members of the community of his generation are left with only two acres on an average.
There could be exaggeration but he does indicate a broad trend which has contributed to rising farmer distress in recent years, in conjunction with other factors. The average size of landholding at the national level has come down from 2.28 hectares in 1970-71 to 1.16 ha in 2010-11. Worse, of all operational holdings, 67 per cent belong to marginal farmers, who, on an average, own 0.38 ha. Another 18 per cent operational holdings belong to small farmers, with an average holding of 1.42 ha . What it essentially means 85 per cent farmers in the country belong to the small and marginal category and own only 44 per cent of the land.
Data suggest the process of marginalisation of holdings has even accelerated in recent years. According to the agriculture census 2010-11, the process of marginalisation was faster in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar from 2005-06 to 2010-11. And, almost at par with the national average in Maharashtra. The process of marginalisation of farm holdings might have contributed to the recent demand of Marathas and Patidars (also known as Patels) to be included in the other backward classes (OBC) category. Rajeshwari Deshpande of Savitribai Phule Pune University says the demand for reservation by Marathas “is a result of a combination of factors like decline of the rural economy, crippled urban economy and unfulfilled political aspirations.”
“In the case of Patels, during the past decade, the emphasis on education has increased. Consequently, Patels have become inclined to pursue stable jobs. Earlier, they were keen to pursue their own business. The demand for reservation can be traced to this change. First, Gujarat has very few good educational institutions which can guarantee them well-paying jobs. Second, the number of government jobs has seen a fall. Also, the decline in indigenous business and less remuneration from agriculture have made matters worse for Patels. As, now find themselves at a loss, they are asking for reservation,” argues Ghanshyam Shah, sociologist and former national fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. The disenchantment of the younger generation of rural folk from farming could also be because the terms of trade in recent years have distinctly turned against the agricultural sector.
Data suggest in the past two decades (1992-93 to 2012-13), the pace of rise of prices of all food items except eggs, meat and fish, has been slower than the decade preceding it. As reported by this newspaper a few weeks ago, despite four episodes of high food inflation for months, the average in the post reforms period has been 7.86 per cent yearly, nearly 2.5 percentage points lower than the average from April 1981 to February 1993. The decade of the 80s was when agriculture grew at the fastest clip, owing to adoption of high yielding varieties of seeds and increasing usage of fertiliser after launch of the green revolution. But that did not result in moderation in prices. The agriculture growth in the post reforms period has been more subdued but prices too have been more stable. What farmers are experiencing now is perhaps a case of relative deprivation vis-à-vis others and also compared to what they were used to getting earlier.
Another recent study by Ramesh Chand, Raka Saxena and Simmi Rana of the Delhi-based National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research shows real farm income per cultivator grew at 2.74 per cent per annum from 1983–84 to 1993–94. It fell to a mere 1.96 per cent in the next decade (1993–94 to 2004–05). Farm income spiked briefly in the period from 2004-05 to 2011-12 but has dipped to one per cent per annum in subsequent years, the authors estimate.
“In the past 10 years among traditional farming communities such as Jats, Gujjars, Marathas and Patels, demands for reservation have arisen. The factors are similar: Decline in agriculture, lack of good educational institutes and less government jobs,” says Ghanshyam Shah.
Another source of rural distress in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, in particular, have been the crisis in sugar. Nearly three million of farmers, mostly in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra, dominated by Marathas, are estimated to grow sugarcane in the state. Many Jat farmers in Western UP are cane growers. Report after report suggests the crisis in the sector has hit cane farmers hard. Another factor is perhaps hurting farmers in Maharashtra is stagnation in agricultural productivity. According to the state’s economic survey, the yield of total foodgrains fell from 1990-91 to 2000-2001. It marginally picked up in the first decade of the current century but has gone flat again since 2010-11. Gujarat, on the other hand, has shown good growth in agricultural productivity in recent years.
Distress conditions aside, is the demand for reservation the only solution? Badri Narayan of Jawaharlal Nehru University argues otherwise. He says, “some of these castes which are now demanding reservations have been oppressors rather than oppressed in the past. Looking at the recent demand from communities for inclusion in the OBCs, it is very likely that the upper castes such as Brahmins and Thakurs, too, will start demanding reservation soon.”
