Mandsaur: Anger Ripens In Farmlands

At first sight, Mandsaur is a farmer바카라�s delight. Vast farmlands stretch to the horizon, the standing crops swaying in the gentle breeze of a March afternoon. Tractor-trolleys laden with produce rattle towards the mandis. Neat brick-and-mortar houses stand on corner plots, a motorcycle often parked in the courtyard. But what these signs of fertility hide is pervasive rural discontent. This belt of Madhya Pradesh바카라�s Malwa region is the proverbial food bowl, but the wrinkles on the farmer바카라�s face cannot hide his deepening frown.

For 65-year-old Bhanwarlal Patidar, June 6, 2017, was the darkest day of his life and that of fellow farmers in the region. That was the day police opened fire on those agitating for better prices for their produce. Six of them died바카라�that sent shock waves across the country and threw agrarian distress into national focus.

Neither the anger nor the woes have ebbed since the incident.

For instance, a farmer growing garlic on one .25 acre of land will incur a cost of around Rs 30,000, including manure, labour, pesticide and electricity charges. But the produce of 15-20 quintals will earn only about Rs 10,000 going by the rates in recent years. 바카라�As per the Swaminathan Commission report, the farmer should at least get Rs 45,000 for the Rs 30,000 he has spent,바카라� says Patidar, who dropped out of a BSc course in the 1970s and has an 8-hectare plot where he grows multiple crops. His anger is not just directed towards the government for failing to fix a decent MSP, but also at city-dwellers for their 바카라�selfish바카라� expectations. 바카라�Even a person who earns Rs 1 lakh a month wants tom­atoes at Rs 5 a kg. What will the farmer get?바카라� Patidar now regrets his decision to ask his son, who has an MCom, to join his farm business.

He also rues the lack of political leadership among farmers. 바카라�These parties, Congress and BJP, they don바카라�t let the farmers unite. In each village, you바카라�ll find farmers divided into two camps and, as a result, our movements are always weak.바카라� In 2014, Patidar and other farmers saw hope in Narendra Modi. 바카라�We thought this man would do something good. But what did he do?바카라� asks Patidar. 바카라�Demonetisation wrecked the village economy. The traders have no cash to pay us. The GST on farming equipment has only worsened the situation. Our produce rots while the government imports food grains.바카라�

The new scheme that promises Rs 6,000 annually to small and marginal farmers hardly placates Patidar. He sees it as a minor placebo, clearly inad­equate when the fundamental logic of his farm economy is itself under a serious and structural threat. 바카라�Assume you바카라�re earning Rs 50,000 a month and your pay is slashed to Rs 25,000. And then you바카라�re given a Rs 10,000 bonus on Diwali, will you be happy?바카라�