Peasant Movement In Madhya Pradesh
Few months back a big peasant unrest and protest was witnessed in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP run state government of MP, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan, in an attempt to repress the protest fired on the protestors and six agitators were killed at Mandsaur. But this hateful act of the government couldn't succeed in suppressing the movement. On the contrary, the movement spread amongst the peasants across the states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In fact, the peasants of Rajasthan called a state-wise bandh and stalled supply of milk and vegetables.
What were actually the demands of the agitators in MP? Their demands were two: (1) immediate announcement of the Minimum Support Price of onion by the government, and (2) waiver of the bank loans as huge quantity of onion had been destroyed by rain.
But why did the peasants demand these? What were the actual causes behind their agitation?
In Madhya Pradesh substantial quantum of the agricultural production is onion cultivation. Madhya Pradesh is second in terms of onion production in the country. There onion is cultivated thrice : during kharif crop season, late kharif and rabi crop season. Among these the rabi crop (October-November to April-May) is the best, yielding the best in size and quality. Only this rabi crop can be stored. Within the country and abroad there is big demand for this variety. As a result majority of the peasants cultivate this variety of onion. Last year the onion production was a bit low and hence the peasants reaped substantial profit. Due to that reason this year the peasants cultivated onion in an additional area of 5.5 lakh hectare of land. Further the amount of onion produce has also increased a lot this year due to favourable weather conditions. Thus there has been an increment in production by about 13-17 % in comparison to the previous year?breaking earlier records. According to government statistics, in 2013-14 the onion production was about 194 lakh metric ton. In 2014-15 the production dipped a little and was 189 lakh metric ton. This year the production jumped to 203 lakh metric ton, which is an all-time record.
A good harvest is good for the country as this would enable the people to purchase onion at a cheaper rate. But in this country time and again over-production is becoming the reason for disaster for the peasants. Of course it is relevant to clarify here that such 'over-production' is not over-production or extra-production in the true sense. Why? De facto crores of people in our country are still now compelled to live in a starved or half-starved condition. Because these people spend their lives in so dire poverty that although they need vegetables and crops but they are absolutely incapable to purchase it. For this reason incidents like Amlasol (West Bengal) and Kalahandi (Orissa) are witnessed now and then where the rural poor are seen to die gradually due to starvation and malnutrition. The purchasing power of crores of people is hopelessly low. As a result the market for various commodities including agricultural products is limited. It is with respect to this limited market that there is 'over-production' not in comparison to real necessity.
Let us now get into the main topic of discussion---the problem of the onion cultivators of MP. Onion cultivation is very expensive and onion also rots very fast. It starts rotting even with a little rainfall and once it starts rotting the whole lot will get damaged if proper measures are not adopted very quickly. Hence the peasants remain in a state of great anxiety until the onions are collected from the field and kept for preservation. The cost of onion seeds is '2500-3000. 4 kg of seeds is required per acre of land resulting in an expenditure of about '12000 per acre. In addition there are expenses pertaining to fertilisers, insecticides, cost of labour, sowing of seeds, harvesting, etc?which add up to about '25000 per acre. The harvest per acre is usually around 70-80 quintals. This year in the open market the hoarder-trader nexus started buying onion at '2 per kg i.e. at '200 per quintal. Hence a peasant could get only '14-16 thousand per acre by selling the crop while the cost of production stood at '25000 per acre. What a huge loss the peasants had to face! This compelled the peasants to choose the path of struggle----to organize road blockade, to spontaneously join the protest rally. It became a do-or-die situation for them. The more land is cultivated, the more they face a loss. That was the reason why the rich peasants and big land-owners were leading the movement.
Ultimately the peasant movement compelled the MP government to retract from their earlier position and announce the Minimum Support Price for onion at '8 per kg. i.e. '800 per quintal. It meant the profit per acre would come to about '30000 ? '40000 per acre. But the condition given was the harvested crop had to be sold at the mandi and the second condition was, the money would be paid through banks only. As a result tremendous competition started among the peasants to sell their produce at the mandi. Consequently what emerged out of it?
At the outset the mandi declared that there will not be any retail purchase. The peasants must bring their produce in fully loaded tractors or trucks as they will be measuring the crops on weigh-bridge. Within a few days a long queue of tractors lined up in front of the mandis. But each mandi would be purchasing onions of 250 tractors per day. As a result the waiting time of each peasant who came to sell his harvest extended upto even six days. At this juncture the worst event took place. On 21st June when thousands of tractors were lined up in front of the mandis' gates heavy rain started. Onions loaded in quite a few thousand tractors were drenched in rain and destroyed completely. At the mandi in Bhopal alone onions in 5000 tractors were destroyed. After watching helplessly the destruction of their harvest in rain the producers raised demands for compensation and waiver of the bank loans.
But the middle and poor peasants were in a much more regretful condition. As it is, their quantum of land and harvest is much less and if they have to go with that small amount of produce in tractors then hiring tractors is and additional burden for them. Per day it comes to about '1500. Then if they get the opportunity to sell the produce after waiting for 6 days in the queue then the hiring has to be also for 6 days. Then nobody knew when the money from the mandis would be credited to their bank accounts. The middle and poor peasants cannot wait so long. They have to repay the loan taken from the money-lenders from the proceeds of their sale and then borrow again for their next cultivation. On the other hand the middle-men and aartiyas wait for their opportunity with their bag-full of money. The target of these vultures are these middle and poor peasants. One can see these money-lenders loitering even in front of the waiting queues of tractors with their money. Those among the poor and middle peasants who are unable to wait anymore, sell their produce at half the declared Support Price i.e, at '400 per quintal and leave. And the middle-men sell that same onion as their produce at '800 per quintal. Just try to imagine the situation! Without even producing a kg of onion these blood-suckers owing to their money-power are looting the harvest of peasants and snatching away their benefits. This money they pocket is never invested in agriculture or any other production. Who cares to take the risk and hazards of production when there is such an alternative to double the money! So what came through at the end of the day? The poor and middle peasants who all along participated in the struggle, achieved the demands too, but were left in the lurch while the gains were pocketed by the rich. The poor or middle peasants are never the actual beneficiaries of government's Minimum Support Price or waiver of bank loans ----the whole cream is snatched away by the rich peasants and the landowners.
It is unfortunate yet true that the rich peasants and big landowners have used the poor and middle peasants and possibly even the agricultural labourers for their interests. They propagate that with increment in Minimum Support Price the poor and middle peasants will benefit too but on the contrary these sections suffer. They don't receive the benefit of increase in Support Price but on the contrary as these sections have to feed themselves purchasing from the market they suffer the most due to price-rise that results from increase in Support Price. This is inevitable. The interests of the rich and the poor are mutually exclusive. Both cannot be served simultaneously. The way in which rich can gain is not the same way in which the poor also can gain. The poor and the middle peasants, also the agricultural labourers are realizing the truth. They are realizing the truth being deceived time and again, realizing from their bitter experiences. The poor must learn that their path for emancipation is different and for that they will have to organize separately.
But the prime question is, what is the main reason behind recurrent loss of the peasants? We are able to understand the losses incurred by peasants due to natural calamity. But in spite of good harvests, what is the main reason for the loss of the peasantry and where lies the remedy?
Can we say that there is scarcity in demand of onions in the markets and hence this problem? No, that is not the fact. There is a huge market abroad for the onions produced in India. There is considerable demand for onions produced in this country in the markets of different countries of Europe, in the Middle-East, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. This in spite of the fact that recently Germany and some other countries have started supplying onions to the markets of Europe. China also exports onions to these countries. But still there is scope for exporting onions to these countries. But the number of cold storages in our country is much less. Presently in comparison to what is produced there is provision for only a small quantity of onion to be preserved within the country. Due to inadequate arrangement for preservation huge quantity of onions get rotten lying in the open. If proper storage arrangements existed then the onions could be exported to foreign markets. What is the condition of home market for onions? Here within the country most of the times the price of onions remain on higher level. Nowadays it's a common saying that onions and apples are equal in price. In spite of the fact that the peasants of MP are selling their produce at '4 per kg nowhere in our home market onions are sold at a price less than '20 per kg. Presently the price of onion is '40-50 per kg. However much the costs of transportation be this cannot explain the huge difference. It means that the aartiyas and traders are buying the onions from the peasants at quite a low price and by various tactics that very onion is sold by them at much higher prices to pocket large profits. As a consequence the longstanding habit of consuming onion daily is gradually being given up by the poor families. The practice of serving free onions as salad with food items in road-side dhabas and restaurants are also being stopped. In effect many poor families have stopped buying onions or buying much less in amount. Just think of the situation---on one hand there is a huge production of onion but on the other the poor families are unable to buy it because of high price. In spite of necessity because of the low purchasing power of the overwhelming majority the home market of onion has remained restricted and it appears that there is over-production compared to demand.
This phenomenon is not only observed in case of onion. Actually the income of crores of poor Indians are very low and that is why their purchasing capacity is very low. For this reason they can purchase very little of the commodities in comparison with their actual need. Moreover due to an underdeveloped state of the industrial sector the demand for agricultural products as raw materials for industries is also much less. Such a condition results in general in a restricted market for agricultural products. As long as the remnants of feudal relations in the rural areas are not completely swept away completely further development of agriculture and industry is out of question. For the ruling class, the big bourgeois of our country, the accomplishment of this task is impossible. They are in alliance with the imperialist forces trying to proceed along the gradual path of development of capitalism by removing the feudal relations of production through reforms. This is the reason for existence of restricted market for agricultural products. And on this market there is continual prevalence of trading capital, which is the prime reason behind misery of the peasants.
Apart from this another important reason behind the acute problem faced by the peasants is the dominance of the imperialist forces over the agricultural sector. In our country the dominance of the imperialist forces over agriculture existed in the earlier period also. But during the last 20-25 years this has multiplied many times. At the end of the decades of sixties of the last century, in the name of 'Green Revolution' on the advice of the imperialists, high yielding variety seeds were imported. Along with it came chemical fertilizer, insecticides and micronutrients. Now different varieties of terminator seeds are being imported because of which the peasants are compelled to buy new seeds every year. In our country every item that is required in agriculture, such as seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, micronutrients, etc?all of these are in the hands of the multinational companies amongst which the American companies are the kingpin. Now they are eager to move in further into the agricultural sector. They want to take possession of the lands and cultivate according to their wish. Even they are doggedly trying to acquire monopoly rights over produces. This they are able to do with the support of the ruling class of this country.
As a consequence the prices of seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides, all such things are continuously increasing. Under the pressure from the imperialist camp the ruling class has almost withdrawn the whole subsidy system. Consequently the price of fertilisers have doubled in one stroke. Due to this the costs of cultivation is mounting day by day. On the other hand due to the policies of globalization the home market has been integrated with the global market. Restrictions over imports have been lifted. Hence the prices of agricultural produces is fluctuating up and down in unison with that of the international market. Thus if one year the peasants are getting a decent price the next year all of a sudden the prices are plunging. This is also one of the reasons why the peasants are not getting healthy returns in spite of satisfactory production and ultimately they are facing big losses.
Another important force that dominates agriculture in our country is usury capital. They have no role in agricultural production. They only enhance their power by exploiting the peasants as parasites. Along with them there is a significant presence of middlemen and the aartiyas. Without any role in agricultural production they also extend their dominance over agricultural produce only by virtue of their money power, pocketing double or triple the amount of profit on this account. Without uprooting these parasites from agriculture there can hardly be any development, nor can the condition of the masses associated with agriculture develop.
Hence the present problem of the onion cultivators is not an isolated or a temporary phenomenon, it is actually deeply associated with the present condition of agrarian economy of the country. Without liberating Indian agriculture from the influence of the remnants of semi-feudal production relations and the exploitation by the Indian bourgeoisie and the imperialists, there cannot be real development nor can there be liberation of the masses dependent on agriculture.
The present struggle that burst out at MP was quite naturally led by the rich peasants and big landowners because it is these sections that take the major portion of their agricultural product to the market for sale and is affected most when they do not get their price. The two demands that were raised during the movement -----(1) Enhancement of Minimum Support Price for onion, and (2) Waiver of bank loans, are actually demands in favour of the rich peasants and the big landowners only. In earlier incidents also and even now in MP, it has been revealed that if Minimum Support Price is increased the only beneficiaries are the rich peasants and the big landowners. The increase in MSP does not beget any gain for the poor and middle peasants. The poor and middle peasants are so much dependent on money-lenders that there happens to be hardly any scope for the majority of them to sell their agricultural produce to the mandi. The bank loans are also mainly availed by the rich peasants as because the government owned banks do not lend money to the poor peasants. Hence the poor peasants have to depend on the very money-lenders. The result, no benefit for the poor and middle peasants when either MSP is increased or when the bank loans are waived. Rather the poor and middle peasants suffer when MSP is increased as they have to feed themselves buying from the market at higher prices. Thus the poor peasant, middle peasant and agricultural labourers should understand, hopefully they have started understanding, that the movement of such type under the leadership of the rich peasants won't liberate them from their problems. The only path towards their liberation lies in taking up the task to dislodge these exploiters from society. That's why it is necessary to detach from such movements of the rich peasants and to get organized separately and build up a struggle to dislodge all the exploiters of the villages. For this they have to unite with the workers in the cities to evict the big bourgeois ruling class of this country, the representatives of the semi-feudal production relations and the imperialists with the aim of establishing a revolutionary rule of the workers and peasants.
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