Obsession with Agitation

 Dear Readers,

When the entire nation is inundated with fable glorifying the contribution and reward in return to farmers, it’s about time for the inhabitants grab a pew to preach their indignation at incumbent dispensation without igniting their innate intellects. The matter was deeply imbedded in Indian system which is now being delved into under the ‘New India’ vision resulting into politicised mutiny. Yes! as I said before No good deed go unpunished.

India’s GDP consists of merely 20% contribution from Agriculture where the rest is being delivered by other sectors. The same model was shared by Developing China which realised the irony beforehand and shifted the focus towards agrarian empowerment to shift the gear of growth. We decided to be complacent under the edifice of free economy to peddle outdated socialism. Instead of empowerment, the very agrarian community was used as a mere political agenda to reinforce illusive Equality.

The national capital is flooded with anarchy which made the nation smitten by the mirth. We may witness  the indignation of “Farmers of Punjab”  in this very sight of desolation while the despair isn’t quite evident in other state Farmers. 

Today the protest is unfurled into a carnival at National Capital setting foot messenger, pizza over, langars and many more. The entire purpose of MSP was seized by Leftists to peddle their own agenda. Hence the same protest turned into a clamouring to repeal the all Firm Laws alongside CAA NRC and Khalistan. The fund started flowing from Indian diaspora to instigate the suppressed agenda of separate state. If they are real farmers, this instance is a totem of being political pawn again. 

The ‘annadata’ rhetoric must be squashed to begin with. Protesters don’t  represent  the farmers of India but of one state. MSP doesn’t apply to all farmers of India but merely to 6% of them. 

6% 🤔

There is nothing heroic about old women using national highways as their makeshift kitchens, nothing heroic about tents coming up with foot massagers and pizza places, and nothing heroic about brain-dead actors using the protest to fuel their filmy agendas. Punjab’s Economic Survey of 2019-20 affirms the origin and the resulting status-quo and also indicates why is it so important for the farmers in Punjab to cultivate in an MSP-only regime.

In 2017-18, Punjab’s share of the total national area of cultivation under wheat was less than 12 per cent. Yet, it registered 18 per cent of the country’s total wheat production. For rice, the state’s share was 12 per cent of the total production in India, while the share in the national area under cultivation was merely 7 per cent.

However, while our wheat and paddy godowns, much like the bank lockers of Punjab farmers, overflow, India is paying high import bills for pulses and oilseeds.In 2017-18 alone, India’s import of pulses was valued at Rs. 28,500 crore and of oilseeds at Rs. 394 crore. Imagine if the farmers in Punjab tried diluting their obsession with wheat and paddy?

What the protesters and administration of Punjab want are three things:

One, for the MSP, to continue (which it is) for them to be able to continuously grow wheat and rice. Two, for the procurement of rice and wheat, to be focussed on Punjab, even if it means overflowing FCI godowns, and rotting grains as long as the MSP is ensured.

Three, for the procurement, to only happen through mandis, which ensures the state has enough money from the tax levied in transactions to sponsor the subsidies that fuel the cultivation of paddy and wheat. So, what happens if Punjab is unable to grow wheat and paddy five, 10, or 20 years from now?

Turns out, the conventional Punjabi farmer has failed to see the water bubble they are living in. The assured procurements and MSPs have resulted in a disastrous impact on the groundwater levels. 

Thus, Punjab’s obsession with MSP-assured wheat and paddy will not only become impossible in the next 10 or 15 years (being optimistic) but make water-intensive cultivation almost impossible too, threatening the livelihood of countless farmers.

So, even if the protesters get the government to bend on repealing the three farm laws and going on to live in their MSP cocoon, they are soon going to run out of wheat and paddy cultivation options.

It’s a certainty.

India descends to a state of obsession....an obsession with Gandhian agitation in the end.