Results of reforms

Direct payment for crops will benefit farmers

The glitch-free marketing of the rabi produce, resulting in record procurement of most crops at the minimum support prices (MSP), cannot be viewed in isolation from the lingering impasse between the government and the agitating farmers over the three reforms-oriented laws. The most noteworthy upshot of this massive marketing operation is the successful enforcement of some key reformist measures despite the Supreme Court’s stay on the new legislation. Side-tracking middlemen (read arhtiyas) and direct payment to farmers for their procured stocks under the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system are the cases in point. Moreover, the Centre has also managed to create conditions conducive to the introduction of some long-pending reforms in the land sector, notably revamping land records and legalising land leasing.

Unsurprisingly, these measures, resisted by farmers in the beginning, ultimately went down well with them. They were happy to receive full and prompt payment for their produce which had seldom happened in Punjab and Haryana where the arhtiyas handled all transactions on their behalf. The arhtiyas took their own time to pass on money to the growers after deducting their own commission and making other adjustments. The farmers’ satisfaction over the payment system and mitigation of fears over the continuation of the MSP-based procurement system are sought to be linked by analysts to the dwindling of the five-month-old agitation at Delhi borders. The crowd strength at the protesting sites has reduced to a trickle. Little wonder that the politically affiliated farmers’ unions, which are sustaining the semblance of a stir now, want to present a big show in Delhi on May 26.

It is, indeed, the development of an innovative “Anaj Kharid” portal that has enabled the government to confront the arhtiyas who have traditionally been marketing the farm produce on behalf of the farmers. It allows farmers to sell the grains directly to any agency of his choice and receive the payment through the DBT. This year, this portal has been used chiefly for direct payments to farmers. But its use can be expanded anytime to totally alienate the arhtiyas from the farm trade. The trigger to necessitate land-related reforms, on the other hand, came from the Centre’s executive order asking the farmer to furnish the proof that he has the authority to cultivate the piece of land where the crop being offered for procurement was grown. This stipulation, put on hold for six months, is bound to create problems for most farmers in Punjab who indulge in land leasing on the basis of oral deals. The state government would, therefore, be forced to either clearly mention the land’s ownership and tilling rights in the records or legalise land leasing to protect the interests of land owners as well as tenants — a win-win situation for both.

Thus, the Centre seems to have conveyed a succinct message to the farmers that the proposed reforms are for their benefit. At the same time, it has also indicated to the agitators, who insist on annulment of the new laws, that the other routes are also available to introduce the reforms. The best course would, therefore, be to resume the talks to evolve a mutually acceptable way to end the current stalemate. The government, surely, needs to take an extra step to win the confidence of the annoyed farmers.