The Reality of BJP's Three Farm Bills, 2020

I still havent had time to delve into the intricacies of the 3 farm bills. But a friend sent me a video of Yogendraji explaining the essence of the 3 bills. 

In the decades I have heard him speak, he is the one of the most measured, well researched, calm, and circumspect speaker on any subject i have heard. 

He has no axe to grind with any party and we would do well to pay attention to what he is saying. He says in the video :

# Unlike what BJP acolytes are propagating, none of the bills has been asked for by any farmer's organization across the country, EVER in their history. And now 450 farmer organizations are in protest of the bills for months. 

# The government has assumed a deaf year to what the farmers have actually been asking for during lock down.. 1. They asked for compensation as they were not permitted to sell their produce in the mandis for months. 2. Farmers asked for lowering of diesel prices (diesel is used in agriculture). Diesel prices are headed downward throughout the world and are rising only in india. 3. Farmers also asked for compensation for destroyed crops. But the government did none of these things.

Instead, the government SHOVED THREE UNASKED FOR GIFTS DOWN FARMERS' THROATS :

FIRST, THE JAMAKHORI KHOLO KANOON, Yadavji says : There were limits uptill now on the  quantities of farm commodities that could be stocked by private entities. Now those limits stand removed. 

For whose benefit ? Adani is making silos in Punjab. The stocking capacity of these silos is 100 times bigger than the biggest godowns now available to farmers. So any amounts of rice, wheat, dals can now be stored by private entities. 

What will be the likely impact ? Stocks may be released to market just before harvesting of crops, to depress rates available to farmers. Later, when farmers have sold all at low rates, prices will be manipulated by large stockists to make them expensive for consumers.

SECOND, BANDHUA KISAN KANOON, Yadavji says : This does not refer to the contracts farmers do with each other for farming on each other's lands for selected time periods. This law is to facilitate companies contracting farmers for their produce. There is a precedent for this law in the contracts Pepsi company did with farmers in Punjab. Let us say the contract was for potatoes to be sold to Pepsi at Rs. 6 a kg.

The first year the market rate for potatoes when the crop was ready to be sold, was 10 rs. a kg. But the company forced farmers to sell their produce at 6 Rs. still, referring to the contract. 

The next year the market rate for potatoes was 4 Rs. a Kg. The farmers asked for the contracted 6 Rs. from Pepsi. But the company said the size and taste of the potato was not proper ! It forced farmers to sell at Rs. 4. a Kg only. 

The contract farming law says any complaints should be made to the SDM but farmers dont have access to SDM. Thus farmers will be forced to farm on unacceptable terms, making them Bandhua.

THIRD, MANDI TORO, MSP CHORO KANOON, Yogendraji says : This law says private mandis will be built near APMC mandis. Farmers will not be able to make such mandis themselves as investments in the hundreds of crores will be needed for a mandi. 

Initially, the private Mandi owners will offer farmers marginally greater amounts than that being offered by the APMC mandi. So farmers, always trying to survive, will gravitate towards these better paying mandis. but by say the 4th sale season or so, the APMC mandi system will be disfunctional as so many of the farmers will have been persuaded to trade in private mandis.

Once APMC Mandis are no longer an alternative, the private mandis are likely to bring down their rates. Farmers will have no option to sell anywhere else then. 

In fact before the whole nation, Jio company of Reliance, employed the same strategy : it promised free net and calls and lured in large nos. of indian mobile customers. Once it reached a critical mass, it suddenly raised prices.

The Mandi system has not been perfect and farmers have many complaints. But for the last many decades, it has given some protection to farmers. Now, Modiji, acknowledging the problems in Mandis, says let us remove this protection altogether - let the farmer enjoy freedom !

Farmers dont want to damage the APMC mandi system. They want it improved.

Blatant Misrepresentations..

I have earlier documented startling departures from the truth in PM Modi's statements. Here are some more I found when reading on some other topic :

Modi said in parliament in early 2018 : “Till the time you (UPA) were in power you lied and said the NPAs were 36% but in 2014 (the year the BJP came to power) we started seeking the truth and looked at the documents. We realised that you gave wrong statistics. NPAs were at 82%,” 

In contrast, the Reserve Bank of India has said that in the year 2013-14, gross NPA (as percentage of total loan amounts) stood at 3.8% – a far cry from the 82% Modi said it is.

Modi went on to say in Parliament that total advances by banks climbed to Rs 52 lakh crore in March 2014 – as part of the UPA government’s bad debt. “This was the money of India’s poor.”

But in fact, the Rs 52 lakh crore refers to total advances by public sector banks, according to RBI data, and not NPAs.

Could even a high school student have made these wild misrepresentations ?

See for yourself the close parallels between India's leadership now, and Germany's leadership before WW2..

An instructive exchange with a neighbour :

[12:34 PM, 3/3/2019] Neighbour : If Modi has not done anything the public must be fools to have elected him as CM repeatedly followed by PM.

[12:37 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : Good lord - surely history has told you that being popular for a time is no proof of the right intent ? Hitler was the most popular leader in germany for more than a decade. he also justified what he did in the name of the national interest and the german people believed him.

[12:39 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : as you would have surely read, goondas are very good at winning elections repeatedly - career criminals. that is why there are so many of them in most political parties. their winning constitutes proof for you on how good they are for our country ?

[12:40 PM, 3/3/2019] Neighbour : Wrong analogy - the favourite one of Congress supporters. Was Hitler democratically elected the first time?

[12:41 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : yes. in elections. he had most of the socialists then in power, murdered on the quiet by private militia.

[12:42 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : no, it isnt a cheap analogy. i have studied some aspects of nazi thought and find modi - and RSS are devout followers. the hindu right wing supported nazi germany and appealed to hitler to attack india to dislodge the british !

[12:44 PM, 3/3/2019] Neighbour: So did another nationaL icon Bose. Nothing wrong if served national interest .

[12:46 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : you cannot speak of Bose and the Hindu right in the same breath ! The Hindu rights' interest was in a final solution of muslims in india. Bose wanted independence, impatient with Gandhi's slow methods. you can speak of Bhagat Singh and Bose together.

[12:47 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : The hindu right NEVER PARTICIPATED - NOT ONE BIT, IN INDIA'S FREEDOM STRUGGLE. Instead they fomented riots in the decades preceeding partition alongside muslim league. 

[1:02 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : Congress opposed partition till the very last. the only elected goernnment to officially endorse the creation of Pakistan was Savarkar's some years before partition. Please read.

 [6:14 PM, 3/3/2019] Me : Since you asked a Q on how he came to rule over the German people, here is a brief cartoon video on the career of Hitler. I think it is a must see for those influenced by the Hindu Right – you can see for yourself the close analogies between Modi and Hitler, and RSS and Nazi thought here. It is not for nothing that scholars have drawn parallels between them for the past many decades. 

Part 2, 8 min long, is a must see.

If you have the time, see part 1 too. It is 6 min long.

BJP's narrow focus on environment and over-reach on the International Solar Alliance

The BJPs guide for environmental management in its 2014 manifesto for the general election, interestingly, finds mention under the subject “industry” instead of “Flora, Fauna and Environment”. The emphasis on framing of environmental laws in a manner that encourages speedy clearances, removal of red tape and bottlenecks, is a sure indicator of diluted scrutiny of development projects at the time of clearance.

The BJP manifesto further focuses on the management of natural resources with respect to more marketable commodities which can earn high returns, such as coal and minerals. Natural resources such as forests and water barely find mention.

But it did have the right words for responding to climate change : One earth, green earth: Creating the right environment - BJP would pursue national growth objectives through an ecological sustainable pathway that leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, recognizing that containing global warming is essential to protecting life and security of people and environment.

India took a lead in the International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched at the Paris climate change conference in 2015. Headquartered in Gurgaon and with 75 signatory countries, the ISA will help in the transfer of solar technologies across members. ISA’s mission is to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology, and mobilise more than $1,000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy. But expert opinion says the ISA has not achieved much - It has not had any impact, good or bad, on the Indian solar sector. It is more of a public relation exercise at this point.

Before the launch of the ISA, there already was a Global Solar Council from 2012 with much the same objectives and membership of a large no. of countries.

Modi said in Oct 2018 that : "Today ISA has become big hope for people. In three years, it has become an inter-governmental organisation. 125 crore Indians feel pride that ISA is headquartered in India. I think whenever people would discuss a big organisation for human development then ISA would to on the top of the list. Whatever role OPEC is playing today to meet the energy requirement of the world, that would be played by ISA in coming days."

Modi's statements in regard to ISA show how much of an over-reach his volubility is - there is no relationship with facts on the ground. ISA is a good initiative on renewal energy, but it is just one more alongside many others in the world. Moreover it hasnt even taken off, much less to be spoken about in these seemingly false terms. 

Is there really no else in India who can be PM ?

A friend wrote back in response to the farmer news : I do not see any one else who deserve PM position . At least man has a vision and trying hard . I think rather criticising, janta should take responsibility and help him moving country ahead. I am noticing he is trying hard but corruption within his party is hindering progress.

There are a few good members in congress but Rahul/ Sonia won’t let anybody take the position and, in fact, all these parties are so corrupt and without proper agenda, I will won’t be surprised if India end up in the same situation as th United States...

I wrote back to her : I dont take headlines to be the gospel truth. anything that takes my attention i read quite widely to appreciate the nuances behind it. everything i have read on Modi and his stewardship of Gujarat and then india, shows him to be focused only on publicity for himself. all his so-called reforms are vehicles for his publicity only.

I like Naidu in the opposition, Nitish too. And left leaders such as Prakash Karat and the Kerala Finance minister Thomas Issac. lots of congressmen sound good - Digvijay, Pilot and Scinida inlcuded. Rahul Gandhi sounds like he has tried to apply himself but i dont prefer him as pm - Nitish and Naidu have far more experience.

For e.g. Modi set up a programme in Gujarat where one day a week / fortnight / month (I forget the periodicity) he would take up particular cases in one department which had not been moved forward. he would discuss over video-link with all affected parties present. this gave good results and many stuck things moved forward.

But i noticed he did not set up the infrastructure to have ministers in his govt. do this or the secretaries in his government or the commissioners over their divisions. Given the way he has been such a self-promoting person, I am sure he would have been very offended if they had themselves used the same tools to solve problems of Gujarat. so he did not want to use these tools to move his state forward, but only for his personal wah-wahi !

Modi's image is plastered over every petrol pump in the country from the moment he launched the ujjwala programme to spend 1600 rs. distributing a LPG regulator and cylinder to rural households. do the billboards in petrol pumps help potential beneficiaries in any way ? NO - they are a publicity vehicle for modi. the programme is thus far a failure too as very few of the households have ordered a refill.

Are Farmers a priority for India's Government ?

One of the leaders of the national peasant movement is Yogendra Yadav, who for several years has been a public intellectual with considered views on socio-economic issues. Excerpt from an Interview with Yogendra Yadav in July 2018 -

Interviewer : The Modi government announced that for the kharif season 2018-19, the government has increased the MSP to 50% over cost of production. He essentially claims that the election promise has been fulfilled. Is this true?

Yogendra : The prime minister projects every action of his as historical. This is a historical lie. What has he claimed? First, that he has fulfilled his election promise. Second, that he has increased the MSP in a historic way in which no one else has ever increased it. Third, that the farmer has received what he wanted. All three are lies.

If you take partial cost, the cost of producing paddy is Rs 1,166. The government provides Rs 1,750 for it. The government is patting itself on the back for giving this amount. But if you take the whole cost (these are government provided-figures, not my own), the cost of paddy is Rs 1,560. So the farmer should receive Rs 2,340. If Modi were to fulfil his promise, he would have to provide Rs 2,340 per quintal for the paddy. This is his first lie.

The second lie is about it being a historical increase of MSP. If your record of history starts in 2014 and consists only of the past four years, then yes, I agree that the increase was historic, because you did nothing for the first four years. If you actually look at history, it is not uncommon to distribute sweets to farmers before an election. In 2008, the UPA did it too and for every harvest, the increase in MSP that the UPA provided was larger than this.

When Manmohan Singh’s government distributed sweets among farmers, it did not mean it was a farmer-oriented government. They were afraid of losing elections. They increased the MSP of paddy by 65%. The current government has actually only increased it by 13%.

Winning elections is far more important than water for parched lands

Gujarat is cutting piped water supplies to its cities and villages for household use as there is little stored water left in the Narmada dam to last until when rains are expected. Water to industries will be cut too and totally withheld from farmers until rains come and the storage improves.

It was known by Sep 2017 that there was much less water stored in the Narmada dam than usual, but the State govt. wasted millions of litres of water in rallies by PM Modi in the run up to the State elections in Dec 2017.

To manipulate farmers, the State Government did not inform them until a month after the elections that they  would not get the full quantum of water for their winter crop - though this was known to officials from months before. As a result many farmers had already sown their crops by the time the announcement came in January 2018.

The record of the Modi Govt. in Gujarat till 2013..

A friend wrote back : ‘The fact is the dynastic rule of Nehru/Gandhi’s which is the cause of our ills . It will take years to correct the course provided we have a strong person like Mr Modi continue to lead the country.’

In Aug 2013 I had investigated Modi’s track record of 11 years rule of Gujarat by wide readings on the net. I found then that the annual jumborees of Vibrant Gujarat were a propaganda exercise. Few of the announcements of FDI investment were realized, less than even in neighbouring Maharashtra !

The big investments by the Adanis and others in Gujarat had displaced lakhs of fishermen, farmers and artisans when their lands were forcibly taken by the Gujarat Government, while giving only a few jobs as the industries had a high degree of automation.

Investments in education had been tom-tommed – but the school education budget had actually shrunk over the years. A smaller proportion of children were in school than before, and the proportion of scheduled castes and tribes had fallen even more.

The shrill campaign on Narmada waters had benefited industry with availability of water .. farmers were still waiting for naramada waters after all these years.. many villages were dependent on tankers even for drinking water. Gujarat’s agricultural output on many crops had shrunk.

I had at that time been mailed photos of gleaming highways in Gujarat then being widely circulated by the right wingers – on closer look the signs on bus stops were in Korean ! The same pattern of lies and misrepresentation continues and many gullible people are taken in..

Now, whenever I investigate an achievement of the Modi Government, I find it is merely a continuation of policies of the Congress Government, but blared through the loudspeakers more loudly. The only two exceptions so far in my readings have been the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan and the firing of 300 employees of the central government for reported non-performance. On the other hand, there have been continuous mis-steps and disasters by the Modi Government in every area one can think of.. 

Performance Appraisal in the Central Government

I was impressed when I read that Modi was trying to reform the national bureaucracy. Appraisals had been made online, and nearly 400 govt. servants had been prematurely retired or faced salary cuts for non-performance or corruption. That was well and good - until I read that Modi had abandoned the Results Framework Document (RFD) from the UPA years that listed initiatives that each ministry intended to take in a year with three or four milestones. 

The article goes on to state that ''RFDs, issued at the beginning of a year, were uploaded on the respective website of each entity. It served a benchmark for comparison of actual achievement of each ministry and its appendages at the end of year. Many journalists and analysts used RFD as objective source of bench-marking performance of ministries. Modi Government, whose aversion to transparency is monumental, obviously realized that it would be subjected to criticism more frequently if it continued and improved RFDs.  Hence it quietly did away with RFDs in 2015-16 without making any disclosure!' 

However UPA Govt. had 'developed cold feet in embracing bold accountability norms ' which Modi Government is now trying to do.