In poll-bound Rajasthan, farmers await MSP law, weigh voting options

At least 62% people work in the agricultural sector in Rajasthan. The GSDP of Rajasthan is 24 per cent - much less in comparison to the farmers’ population.

Jaipur: Farmers in poll-bound Rajasthan are unlikely to vote on the basis of party, caste, community, religion this time, say farm leaders from the state.

“We would vote for that party which would guarantee us Minimum Support Price (MSP). We need a law on MSP. It was a resolution we passed in July, 2023. We are self-sufficient people who don’t need sops and doles,” Rampal Jat, chairman of Kisan Mahapanchayat told Deccan Herald.

The organisation has over one lakh farmers across Rajasthan and are putting up one candidate each in 10 divisions of the state.

“This is a political experiment we are conducting for the first time. We would be putting up one farmer as an Independent candidate from each of the divisions of Rajasthan. We appeal to all farmers to cast their vote keeping in mind the well being of the farming community. We would be fighting on the strength of the MSP issue, which no party has complied with till now.”

Farmers constitute the majority of voters in most of the states. At least 62 per cent people work in the agricultural sector in Rajasthan. The GSDP of Rajasthan is 24 per cent - much less in comparison to the farmers’ population.

This means that a large segment of farmers’ population have low, stagnating income and depend on government support due to uncertain weather conditions.

The principal crops of the state are barley, wheat, gram, pulses, oil seeds, bajra, pulses, jowar, maize, ground nuts, fruits, and vegetables and spices. Rajasthan is the country’s largest producer of coarse cereals and coriander and the second-largest producer of pulses, oilseed, cumin, and garlic.

Agriculture accounts for 22.5 per cent of the state's economy. The total cultivated area of Rajasthan encompasses about 20 million hectares, out of which only 20 per cent of the land is irrigated. The farmers feel that both Congress and BJP have been dilly-dallying on the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project.

Besides, just days ahead of the polls, BJP and Congress were engaged in war of words over loan waiver and auctioning of farm lands.

According to Dr Kirori Lal Meena, BJP MP, at least 15 lakh farmers in Rajasthan have taken loans worth Rs 10,000 crore from cooperative banks which have not been waived off. Even farmers with small land holdings of less than 5.5 acres have received land auction notices, Meena said.

While Congress claims that loans taken from cooperative banks have been waived off, they have not been able to take action on nationalised banks.

Clarifying, Jat says, “At least 28 lakh farmers’ loans have been waived off but there are those who took loan from nationalised banks. Their loans remain as is. Congress had especially promised waiving off all types of loans. Congress gave the excuse that the Centre did not agree to the one-time loan settlement plan and that nationalised banks also were not in its favour. But we are asking why didn’t the Congress raise the issue? The farmers’ plight is definitely not on their priority list."

About BJP’s charge of lands of 19000 farmers being auctioned off, Jat says that notices were indeed issued to the farmers but the state government has kept it pending.

“But keeping notices pending doesn’t help us. Both Congress and BJP indulge in blame games. BJP, in fact, had talked about 'rin-mukt kisan' (loan-free farmer) in their 2009 manifesto. No party is actually working in the interest of farmers."

Farmers are concerned about the MSP issue as well. Production is skewed towards seven crops under MSP namely wheat, mustard, gram, groundnut, moong and soybean. Farmers complain that MSP is not sufficient.

“There is no procurement by the government. We suffer from over-production of these crops under MSP. The input and labour costs are increasing each day and we have to sell at much lower price than MSP. Like for bajra, the MSP was announced at Rs 25,000 quintal/kg this year. But the government did not procure the crop and we had to sell at a loss of more than Rs 1000 to 1200/kg. We bought the bajra seeds in the range of Rs 400 to Rs 600/kg. But ultimately we had to sell at Rs 11 to Rs 12/kg. It did not even meet our cost of production.”

Talking about mustard, the MSP was announced at Rs 5450/quintal this year but the farmers had to sell it at Rs 4500/quintal suffering a loss of Rs 1000/quintal, which accumulated to huge loss for small farmers. At least 85 per cent of the production had to be sold much below MSP,” he adds.

Farmers are also demanding that the premium which is deducted under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) scheme - that provides insurance cover to all farmers for their crops - be reconsidered if the crops are destroyed due to natural calamities or otherwise. The government also fails to compensate them adequately in case of disasters.

Farmers also rue that sometimes when they are forced to sell their production to private players at much lesser than the MSP, they do not receive the payments as the buyers just disappear.