Ashok Gulati, renowned agricultural economist reportedly said that Indian farmers have struggled massively in the four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, citing that the average agriculture Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was around 2.5 per cent in these last four years as compared to the 5.2 per cent during the last four years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Gulati’s statements come when as farmers from across the country are set to march to New Delhi on November 29–30 to demand a special session of the Parliament on the agrarian crisis. Similar protest marches are being organised in other parts of the country.
The former Commissioner of Agriculture Costs and Prices in the UPA government also noted, “… if you take the 10 years of UPA, it would average to around 3.7 per cent.” Gulati, who was speaking in New Delhi at the launch of farmers’ rights activist and politician Yogendra Yadav’s book — Farmers under Modiraaj: Double Income or Double Jeopardy — also told The Week that the government’s policies to help the farmers did not benefit the farmers themselves, but proved helpful to the consumers instead. He said that farmers could gain benefits if food subsidies were to be converted into direct subsidies and paid to them.
“Our policies meant for farmers are actually pro-consumer policies. Price control and export restrictions have kept farmers poor,” mentioned Gulati to The Week. He added, “In India, Telangana government is paying farmers Rs 4,000 per acre as investment support to purchase farm inputs or seeds for any crop they want to grow. We must shift our farm policies from price-driven policies to farmers’ income and investment support policies. Only this can provide relief to our farmers,” said Gulati.
He also noted that the much-touted Minimum Support Price (MSP) could not be considered as adequately equipping all farmers. He said that if MSPs were to be increased; only about 26 per cent farmers could gain from such an increase.
Also Read: Kisan Mukti March: Farmers to Protest in Delhi on Nov 29-30