Mr. P. Sainath is a gem of a person. His knowledge of the crisis unfolding before us is meticulous. His experience in the field of agriculture should be used by policymakers to secure stable, progressive and remunerative income for members in the farming community. This apart, Ms. Mitali's conduct and her questions are worth appreciating. They were crisp, to the point, and devoid of biases. 47 minutes of enlightenment on social media is quite extraordinary for the times in which we live. Thank you for bringing forth such a nuanced, in depth and we'll conducted discussion.
Thank you Mitali and Wire. P. Sainath is the only lone sane voice to understand farming and agrarian crisis. Lucky are the people who he has mentored and have worked with him.
@@Arihant997 Too open-ended a question that you are asking, anyways. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you do get to know the problems that people around you are facing. And hence i do know about farmer distress. Hope my response satisfies your vague query.
@@vijayjosh5895 Its not Modi's. I have not found the bill in BJP manifesto, I feel they copied it from congress manifesto, to score points from farmers. But I might be wrong.
P. Sainath is an intellectual juggernaut. And Mitali was a great interviewer - giving him space, yet keeping him on track. Great job, The Wire! Neo liberalism will be the death of us.
Wow, it is not merely a farmers' issue. The corporates' power is becoming all-pervasive, and this has been proved by what has happened to the availability of education to poor students and how milk-producers have lost 45% of an already price for milk they are getting. This is a govt of the coporates by the corporates and for the coporates. It is so heartening to see a journalist expressing his concern for the "foot-lose" labour.
This is good interview on farmers distress I request Mr Sainath to write a detail report on the whole range of topics he has covered in this interview with full details in a book form so that many people and organisations can read the details and explain them to the people of our country. He has rightly said about the private hospitals and private education system which is looting the people in every way they can. In this free market society every sector of the private economy is linked and sucking the blood of the working people. The ruling parties weather UPA or NDA are just the representatives of the ruling classes that is the corporate sector, and the big bourgeoisie . As Mr Sainath has rightly said that this government is shooting in every direction.
I am not sure what his connection with farming, but his understanding, like most people talking on this matter, is very much like a city person’s understanding. He is talking about the extreme kind of bad consequences, which frankly won’t make the conditions of the farmers very bad. I live in Mumbai and our family grow potatoes in rural south Bengal. I am in my mid-forties and I never have seen three consecutive years of profit from our land! Our neighbours now tied up with Pepsi to supply potatoes and I am told he is making decent money for the last few years! This bill is not a panacea but a good beginning! Also, why the country continues to subsidies farmers who are growing rice and wheat when our existing stocks are getting used!
Palagummi Sainath (born 1957) is an Indian journalist who focuses on social & economic inequality, rural affairs, poverty and the aftermath of globalization in India.[2] He is the founder editor of the People's Archive of Rural India (PARI)[3] and a senior fellow for Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He was the Rural Affairs Editor at The Hindu before resigning in 2014,.[4] The website India Together[5] has been archiving some of his work in The Hindu daily for the past six years.[6] Since late 2011, he has been working on PARI,[7] of which he is the founder-editor. Amartya Sen has called him "one of the world's great experts on famine and hunger".[8] In June 2011, Sainath was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (DLitt) by the University of Alberta, the university's highest honor. He is one of few Indians to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which he accepted in 2007 in the category of Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts". this is copied from Wikipedia.which is in public domainThis man certainly knows what he is speaking. the problem is not the only the removal of APMC but the opaque way it is being done. In the absence of proper regulatory authority, profit becomes profiteering for corporate and middleman, and farmers especially marginal farmers will continue to suffer. it will not remove middleman but bring even more middleman. If the government wants to protect farmers they should work on farm debt, strengthen cooperative movent and improve the ease of loan to the marginal farmers and educate them.
I am aware of him very impressive credentials! In case you have heard someone called Dr. Ashok Gulati, do read his analysis on the subject. I belong to a family of farmers, so I have some understanding of the problem my family goes through! Dr. Sen's wife was my teacher. I know some people who are his PhD. students. I can safely assume that if one explains him the measures, he would not reject it outright!
I am Studying the articles written by P.Sainath from my college days either in Frontline or Hindu. As of my knowledge Sainadh and Jayanthi Ghosh are the two people who understand the pain of farmers of India from ground level. The observation made by these two people on farmer related issues are most trustable. Because these people come to one conclusion after observing both pros and cons on particular subject. So I would like to subscribe the points made by Sainath....
Financial Express January 2, 2021 7:00 AM: Farmers needn’t fear agri-corporates, capital injection in agriculture is crucial to benefit from scale: By MG Chandrakanth The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers. The recent agitation by farmers on the three farm laws voices the apprehension that crony capitalists will take over farms and APMCs and other markets. The eminent Gandhian scholar-activist from Karnataka, MD Nanjundaswamy, too, had similar apprehensions in 1995. However, virtually nothing happened since 1995, as far as entry of corporates or crony capitalists into agriculture is concerned. However, it remains a fact that agriculture is starved of capital today, and thus there is a need to attract capital to it. Even in the US, more than 95% of the farms are family farms, and corporate farming has not entered the world’s most liberal capitalistic country in the way that most fear, here in India and around the world. That agriculture is a gamble on the monsoons is widely accepted; but it is also a gamble on the markets, due to increasing market imperfections and market inefficiencies. For perspective, out of 1.26 million registered companies in India, hardly 67 are purely agricultural companies, forming 0.008% of the pool. After including the existing 7,374 FPOs, it is a mere 0.59%! When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered India, there was a hue and cry among farmers that it is going to purchase the entire poultry industry. However, KFC is purchasing chicks from India, creating market for Indian poultry. The state-of-the-art precision farm, Simply Fresh, was set up by two IT professionals returning from Australia in 2014. With an output of around 10 tonnes of organic fruit, vegetables, medicinal plants per day with an investment of `130 crore, Hyderabad-based DeHaat is offering access to quality inputs and market linkage to 4 lakh maize, wheat, banana, litchi, vegetable farmers in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha, resulting in a 50% increase in their farm-income. Former employees of Wipro, using digital initiatives, formed Stellapps in Bengaluru to digitise the supply-chain for 20 lakh dairy farmers (mostly small farmers) from 33,000 villages, managing an output of 11million litres of milk per day. Mahindra & Mahindra is a big corporate that produces 40% of the tractors used in farming in India. Contract farming by Namdhari’s for quality vegetables for exports in Bidadi, Karnataka, is benefiting small farmers, as income derived per acre was the highest for this group. Future Consumer, Ninja Kart, Big Basket, Milk Basket, Farm Fresh, Y-Look, More, Max-hifer, Reliance Retail, etc, are involved in procuring quality fresh fruits in Malur in Karnataka. Small farmers benefitted more than large farmers through contract farming. The farmer-sellers are first registered and are informed about the need for X quantity of vegetables of a said quality to be supplied to their outlets in advance, and the proceeds are deposited in bank account in a transparent manner. Note here, that the uniqueness of Namdhari’s stems from the fact that farmers’ produce, in addition to being marked for exports, is also sold in Namdhari’s Fresh outlets in Bengaluru. Agriculture now oscillates between the vagaries of monsoons/markets/ institutions and equity. If the corporate world is exploitative, why not have Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) demonstrate the efficiency of pooling the bargaining power of farmers in price determination and show that they are a better option than having agri-corporates engaged in contract farming? What prevents agriculture graduates from taking up farming? The answer is very clear. While production technology has progressed through R&D, agricultural marketing is still caught in the trap of inefficiencies and imperfections of APMCs. And, even if our agri-graduates do well in agriculture, they are unable to reap a higher portion of the consumer’s rupee due to the middleman, thanks to whom the marketing costs have increased. It is, therefore, crucial for the farmers to accept the three new farm laws which will benefit them by injecting competing markets. Capital injection is crucial in agriculture for it to benefit from scale in production and marketing. The experience of opening up APMC markets has indicated that market prices can increase by at least 38% through the e-NAM. The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers.
Take any sector, wily Modi means harm to the helpless, squeeze them till no juice left and drop them like a waste. Very heartless these people, generations on. A big fart
Thank you Mitali...Thank you Sainath... Both of you did such a wonderful job with this discussion... I would want to hope that we can rise from this mess someday..Fingers crossed !!!
From my personal experience corporates selling food products in India are always associated with high adulteration. (They have bulk produce accumulated ) We have a new retail store of a top five billionaire in my junction. The prices sometimes are a little inexpensive. But I have time and again found food items adulterated. How disgusting and mean one can be if they are coating/mixing something like rice and ground nuts with chemicals. Now i get it from my local margin free store even though i may have to pay little more price. Much fresher too. NOW.. Modi is so naive (or crook) to copy free market style from USa or elsewhere. Does he know that they have an efficient organization called FDA (which India cannot dream of in 100 years because of corruption, and influence) to check quality of food and drug? If shops fail they lose the license to sell altogether? They have a return policy for almost all items etc. Fiscal transfers of over Rs1.45 lakh crore have been made to capitalists; and privatisation has got extended to natural resources, like coal, violating a promise of the anti-colonial struggle, and is now being considered even for the Railways. The capitalists and financiers have never had it so good, while the working people, including the tribals facing dispossession, are being pushed to unprecedented levels of suffering. BJP has zero knowledge of economics and, therefore, dances to the tune of finance capital whom it naively calls “wealth creators”. At the same time, it provides through its Hindutva agenda a smokescreen behind which it can do the biddings of finance capital. None of the pro-capitalist measures of the Modi government will do anything to alleviate the crisis. On the contrary, these would aggravate it greatly.
Not God but people of India will save India by voting the right people on power and giving up coming new young politicians a chance who don't have money power backing them but talk sense!!🙏💪👍
What an interview! P.Sainath's grasp of the dynamics of the agrarian society and the prevalent political rhetoric is phenomenal, his ability to articulate these is awesome. Mitali too played the perfect interviewer by allowing P. Sainath space and time to expound his ideas unhindered.
2. The Essential Commodities Act (Amendment) Bill: It empowers the Central government to regulate food items in extraordinary circumstances or impose stock limits if there is a steep price rise. However, the points of contention are: a) Till now only farmers, farmer cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations didn’t have any limit or restriction for stocking, producing or selling their crop. As a result, they take conscious decision of selling their crops only when the market or the buyer is offering good price for the crop. So, under this bill the farmers are not getting any new freedom. On the contrary the government is now removing all the foodstuffs from this category allowing companies and traders to store as much quantity of food as they want which amounts to promoting hoarding. b) Through this Amendment the government is giving up its power to prevent hoarding and controlling price inflation. According to the law, government can intervene only if there is 50% price rise over previous year’s price in case of non-perishable goods and 100% price rise over previous year’s perishable goods. 3. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill: It allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers produce beyond the physical premises of Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee (APMC) markets. State will be now prohibited from levying any market fees or cess outside APMC areas. a) The government says that now the farmers will have freedom to sell to anyone. Under the bill, the agri-business companies, corporate and traders will be allowed to open their own markets to purchase from farmers. However, the biggest fear coming from this is that it will destroy the level playing field between the APMC markets and other traders. Under the bill, the trade outside the APMC Mandis is virtually unregulated. b) Farmers were demanding that in case the government is allowing, new set of farm markets to come up; the state and local government should be given power to oversee their functioning and also regulate them. However, the demand has been ignored. c) Presently if the farmers feel the traders/corporate/agents working inside the APMC Mandis are involved in any unfair practices, they could complaint to the APMC Officers located in the yard itself. However, with the new Bill, in case of any disputes, farmers would be required to go to a sub-divisional magistrate court - which is beyond the capacity of small farmers to pursue given their financial constraints.
Why isn't the issues what Mr Sainath mentions being covered elsewhere...... The detail in which he is getting into is proof of amazing depth of understanding of the issue. Why isn't he and his ilk.. rare though... on committees that find a solution to these issues.. Doesn't the govt have NDA on people who know the details on the ground... and those who don't? Why aren't drafts sent out to seek feedback and discussed
Since the government is full of IGNORAMUS why would they consult experts whereas in UPA I there were lot of consultation on RTI MNREGA which helped in better and smoother legislation.
Not only chaotic it's also illegal and unconstitutional . First-of-all Agriculture is a state subject and the Central government has stepped into a domain which was not a part of its regulation. Secondly Indian farmers most of which have small land holding on average of less than 1 acre feel that the laws will make them even more vulnerable as they give an edge to corporate and agri-business companies. The Bills have left the farmers agitated and divided due to several reasons. For better understanding let’s peak into the bills and their major points of contentions. 1. The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill: It draws a framework for contract farming agreement between farmers and buyer before sowing of a crop and for dispute settlement prescribes three level mechanisms - the conciliation board, sub- divisional magistrate and appellate authority. However, the points of contention are: a) Under this law it’s not mandatory for a company to make a written contract with the farmer for any contract farming. So, even if the company violates the terms of the contract, the farmer cannot prove it. b) It does not have any provision to penalize companies which do not register their contracts. For eg: Last year, Potato farmers from Gujarat witnessed a big issue where Pepsico attempted to penalize potato farmers for growing the same seed varieties. The farmer organizations finally had to knock on the doors of the court and agitate to get justice. c) Bill does not prescribe or specify that contract price of the crop should be at least equivalent or above the MSP. It means the contractor/companies can pay whatever price they want to the farmer. India’s experience of the contract farming has been poor with farmers getting very low rates through contract farming as compared to selling it in government mandis on MSPs (Minimum Support Price).
@@pranavkumardas5770 his propaganda? the leftist propaganda? no.. i have read lot of his articles in frontline and i was like a fan of those lefties especially he n jayati ghosh but gosh they are so stupid, totally biased & anti free market..
THANKS FOR BRINGING IN P.SAINATH ON THE SHOW : HE SURE KNOWS THE GRASSROOTS OF INDIA : IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO LISTEN TO HIS VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT OF FARMERS : BUT WHO THE HELL IS LISTENING IN THE GOVERNMENT ? !
Its critical to understand the 'philosophy', as Mr. Sainath said in the interview, behind these moves of the government over the years. All these steps are well coordinated and orchestrated to marginalise the 'common man' and accumulate the wealth in the hands of the big corporations and a few billionaires, western and Indian alike, while leaving the people of this country paupers, like the British once did not so long ago which we haven't been able to recover form and the Americans and British and French and Dutch and others are been doing in country after country in Asia and Africa in the recent past. These politicians are just the puppets in the hands of these billionaires and their corporations, doing their bidding and collecting their keep in the process.
Ibtedaye ishq hai! Dekhiye age hota hai kya! This is a tip of iceberg of the farming society which is being exploited by corporates- both Indians and MNCS.If farmers continue to have trust in the present day political dispensation and continue to vote the BJP,no messiah can save them.They will be reduced to penury sooner than later. What is hard to understand is the lack polical will on the part of regional political parties to organize resistance movements when there is a systematic and diabolical usurption of powers of the state governments. The federal structure of Indian polity is torn to pieces: agriculture is out and out state subject, the Central Government can't and should not intervene in the matter; education is on the concurrent list of the Indian constitution,alas,the NEP 2020 appropriate itself the right to legislate with out consulting the states. Regional political parties like TRS, AIADMK,TMC,AAP,TDP, DMK, CPM, CPI, Bahujan samaj party ( bsp), National Conference, Jahan's Congress will have to organise mass movements to regain the power snatched by the BJP. If they don't see writing on the wall, Indian political system will become authoritarian to the core.
DNA of corporates is avarice. Therefore this mirage of a free market is just that. A mirage!!! People look without seeing. We have had a brutal 6 months. Yet at the last count Mukesh bhai rose to become the 5th or 6th richest man on the planet. Adani is acquiring Airport management rights left right and center. Both have more than a little help from their friends in high places. Suit boot ka sarkar and Arun Mishra like judiciary. As for the rest of us a barmecides feast. Eat Ache din.
It was really smart of Sainath Sir to bring up Health and Education which is facing direction less..No ideological way ahead which the current govt is having... Agriculture was and will always be a private enterprise..Any govt regulation in country as diverse as India is just a Utopia especially since it is a state list subject... Communist spread that dream... Strangely China achieved labor and agri reforms because of Govt's absolute control..Which is never possible in India..All the rest are noises/sentiment arousing rhetoric in a democracy ...No radical change will be visible to a marginal /small farmer nor the end consumer buying vegetable and cereals...
Namaste Sir, First of all I would like to say big thanks to you for responding to my views. It is very great thing to learn something from eminent person like you. Here I don't have that much strength to conflict views expressed by you on this matter. In any section the reforms are very inviteble. With out reforms we are not stand where we are today. Here I would like wish big success to these acts and eradicate all the problems facing by our Indian farmers. But my concern is on the execution strength of the governments especially central government. Because the reforms taken by the Modi government are become curse to the people of India in every aspect. For example the note ban taken by the government become grave to the small scale industries even after completion of 4 years the bad impact of that decision is not come down. Due to that decision the unemployment rate reach to mountain level in our country. The same thing in the matter of GST also. We are always taking about decentralisation of everything. Due to GST in the financial matters the central government become iron hand and now the states become minority holders in the financial spectram of our country. The same thing happened in Lockdown issue also. We are all feel to be shame after watching such painful visuals of Migrant people. Here my question and concern is that whether central government has creat any platform to perform this act without mistkes. if this act become one more failure act India will witness very painful situation and finally question the food security of Indian people . Before making these kind of laws the Center go to one piolet project in particular state and find out the result and make any correction which are needed to implement all over country. With out having any ground work they think to implement is never be good.. Because the strength of this government is not up to mark in implementing of these kind of acts. Most of Indians face bitter experience due to acts of this central government.
Sainath is few intellect connected to ground zero. His arguments are based on data. I wound what solution he would have for Indian agriculture if he was current Agriculture minister.
Ei shob ke pips dream bole. This man is a national treasure, in any other country he would be advising governments. Brilliant mind, brilliant writer, and just a fantastic human being.
Ashok Gulati -- the guy bankrolled by every US foundation & who has a particularly bitter aversion towards India in favour of his paymasters. Traitor of the highest order.
The guest drifted off a little to the pandemic and its management...Mitali very gently intervened to bring him back to the subject of farm sector bills..Tactful handling of the situation..
Farm related issues are State subject under the Constitution. Therefore, the Farmers bills passed by the Parliament is null & void, unjurisdictional and unconstitutional as well.
Go and look up Dr. Ashok Gulati talking to anti modi Raj deep Sardesai on NDTV and Sardesai agrees its a positive bill by the way if you want to know about Gulati google him to know what makes him an expert
It can be equated to MSME in automobile parts producers/ job work units who cant move out other than OEM. Prices will be cut throat between two small units...
Purely economic question: Sainath mentions that the larger fraction of farmers sell outside the ambit of APMC. Since he is an archive of statistics, it would have helped if he mentioned the percentage, especially how it varies among big agricultural states. Cause, if we take his argument at face value, the new bills might just be as he says: nothing more than a hogwash and eventually undermining APMC. But if there are significant states where the under-funded/under-valued APMC takes up a majority of the agro trading, then opening up the market helps on pen and paper. Implementation and safe-guards are a different debate altogether.
Farmer bill is in right thing. Being associated with Market Committee and Farmers , so far the farmers were subjected to whims and facies of Market Committee officials and brokers. The Agricultural Act 1970 was O.K during the period when no cell phones were available. To day all the farmers are young educated and tech savvy, they can locate the market for their products sitting at home. Ultimately, water will find it's own level. These new generation farmers after few nasty experience will emerge victorious in market. Remember during 1969, after the nationalization of banks, many young first generation entrepreneurs ventured into manufacturing. Many burnt their fingers but at the same time they learnt a lot and improved their methods of manufacturing. Protectionism should be done away with. Push these entrepreneurs into water, they will learn to swim.
90% farmers do not have access to nearby markets and usually the middlemen are the source of their funding.So the middlemen will be there, working for corporats instead of APMC. Govt intension is good, but the rule is passed without any reality check.
The same bill was part of the Congress Manifesto in 2019 , how can Congress and any other political party can object to it. This was long overdue ..what Mr Shekhar Gupta on "Cut the clutter " says have got more value. This bill is good but it is to be communicated in a better way . I believe him . Rest all are side show and political .
I'm not aware if this was indeed mentioned in the Congress Manifesto, but even so, there are other parties in this country which have categorically opposed these bills - DMK, CPM, TMC etc. Even BJP's own ally, the SAD, has broken alliance due to these bills. Sainath himself addresses how Congress itself pioneered similar shifts in most other sectors. You can't restrict the entire range of political ideology and opinions in this extremely diverse country to BJP and Congress. If you indeed want to challenge the criticism of the bill, then do so on the merit of arguments. Explain how the bills have a net positive effect as you say it does. Address the apprehensions regarding the bills.
These laws - not sure how they will pan out but the feeling is that it will be bumpy for farmers. hope that in the long term it increases farm productivity and more wealth for farmers but right now it is scary....
Does this bill come into play the affect directly or indirectly the State-Centre relationship as it is intended to bring changes in Agriculture sector? If it is so the bill should have been cleared or passed by a majority of not less than 2/3 rd of members of that house present and voting.
This is a govt. with a vision, a skewed vision! Corporates will control farming like in US. In US, farmers are in a dire straight and its farmer population is around 5%. Govt. doles out subsidy to them to keep them floating. Otherwise they are at the mercy of corporates. Same will happen in India. Only difference would be that Govt. would not bother to give any subsidy and our nos. are around 40% of population. They will be left high and dry! We will see development as in education and hospitals! They will grow but will be out of reach for common man. Farmers will lose out, consumer will lose out, private entities will gain and of course the rulers! The very fact Mr. Modi says that these bills are for the benefit of farmers and it will bring in prosperity for them should send alarm bells! We had witnesses what he did with de-monetisation, GST, MSME sector, Covid, Border issue with China. In the din of farm bill we have also lost on the labour reform bill. The bill grants hire & fire powers for corporates. This is also similar to US. Only in US, when someone loses his job, govt. supports employees till he finds another job! Do we have any govt. support? We had witnessed what happened with migrant labourers. This Govt. is systematically destroying every segment of society. Instead, they should handover governance directly to a corporate, be it Ambani/Adani or any other!
HI, I AM ALWAYS CRYING, BECAUSE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING AROUND ME EVEN WHEN I DONT WANT THEM TO...PLEASE SHOW ME A BETTER WAY..!! WIRE, CAN YOU GIVE ME A JOB? I DONT WANT MUCH MONEY, I JUST WANT TO MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THIS GOVT TO EXIST AND DO THE THINGS THEY ARE DOING, AND I PROMISE YOU THAT I WONT DISAPPOINT YOU..!!
So if someone has no one specific solution, your logic is to take every shit being doled out by Govt ?? Not even to point out fallacies especially if you’re an EXPERT in the field? Sit down brother.
A possible solution proposed by eminent agriculture economist Divendra Sharma. He suggests an MSP below which no contract farming can be signed. You can watch it here ruclips.net/video/WiiLSUUWsUU/видео.html
Election commission along with supreme court should be made mandatory to collect from all parties to file affidavit that public grievances highlighted in their manifesto should be well thought out assessed and should be implemented not at all go opposite.
If Modi&his faceless Agriculture minister claims the latest Agriculture bill tobe game Changer for farmers &freed lfrom APMCs jurisdiction but not freed from the eccentric Commerce Ministry in Delhi, which controls import/export of Agricultural commodities.Otherwise how come central govt. Suddenly stopped export of Onions?and import of veg oils& cotton at nearly.zero percent import duty?
Even a common man can see thru these bills. This is ONLY to facilitate Ambani to get the monopoly of every agricultural product in the country. once APMC 's are out of the way, the farmers will no more have one centralized place to sell their produce. Now the farmers will have to "Approach" individual buyers to sell their produce and Ambani will now come up with his Reliance Mandi and he will be the only one to buy the entire produce of the country to stock up in his REliance Mart. Whether you like it or not this is a scary situation where Ambani alone is going to own and control the farms and the Kirana stores. He has already taken up Future group which gives him unimaginable space for warehouses, store space and customer base and making it almost compulsory for all small kirana stores to use their JIo app which is in collaboration with Facebook in the fake pretense of making grocery sales online but the hidden agenda is to acquire every single detail of the Kirans store sales. Mark my words in the next 3 months REliance will come up as the sole buyer of all agricultural produce in India. from 2021 be ready to raise your budget for the food you eat on an everyday basis. Just for general knowledge There exists a law called The Competition Act 2002 which was passed to "Prevent" monopoly. BUt unfortunately the Gujju gang of AMbani and ADani are above that.
Financial Express January 2, 2021 7:00 AM: Farmers needn’t fear agri-corporates, capital injection in agriculture is crucial to benefit from scale: By MG Chandrakanth The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers. The recent agitation by farmers on the three farm laws voices the apprehension that crony capitalists will take over farms and APMCs and other markets. The eminent Gandhian scholar-activist from Karnataka, MD Nanjundaswamy, too, had similar apprehensions in 1995. However, virtually nothing happened since 1995, as far as entry of corporates or crony capitalists into agriculture is concerned. However, it remains a fact that agriculture is starved of capital today, and thus there is a need to attract capital to it. Even in the US, more than 95% of the farms are family farms, and corporate farming has not entered the world’s most liberal capitalistic country in the way that most fear, here in India and around the world. That agriculture is a gamble on the monsoons is widely accepted; but it is also a gamble on the markets, due to increasing market imperfections and market inefficiencies. For perspective, out of 1.26 million registered companies in India, hardly 67 are purely agricultural companies, forming 0.008% of the pool. After including the existing 7,374 FPOs, it is a mere 0.59%! When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered India, there was a hue and cry among farmers that it is going to purchase the entire poultry industry. However, KFC is purchasing chicks from India, creating market for Indian poultry. The state-of-the-art precision farm, Simply Fresh, was set up by two IT professionals returning from Australia in 2014. With an output of around 10 tonnes of organic fruit, vegetables, medicinal plants per day with an investment of `130 crore, Hyderabad-based DeHaat is offering access to quality inputs and market linkage to 4 lakh maize, wheat, banana, litchi, vegetable farmers in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha, resulting in a 50% increase in their farm-income. Former employees of Wipro, using digital initiatives, formed Stellapps in Bengaluru to digitise the supply-chain for 20 lakh dairy farmers (mostly small farmers) from 33,000 villages, managing an output of 11million litres of milk per day. Mahindra & Mahindra is a big corporate that produces 40% of the tractors used in farming in India. Contract farming by Namdhari’s for quality vegetables for exports in Bidadi, Karnataka, is benefiting small farmers, as income derived per acre was the highest for this group. Future Consumer, Ninja Kart, Big Basket, Milk Basket, Farm Fresh, Y-Look, More, Max-hifer, Reliance Retail, etc, are involved in procuring quality fresh fruits in Malur in Karnataka. Small farmers benefitted more than large farmers through contract farming. The farmer-sellers are first registered and are informed about the need for X quantity of vegetables of a said quality to be supplied to their outlets in advance, and the proceeds are deposited in bank account in a transparent manner. Note here, that the uniqueness of Namdhari’s stems from the fact that farmers’ produce, in addition to being marked for exports, is also sold in Namdhari’s Fresh outlets in Bengaluru. Agriculture now oscillates between the vagaries of monsoons/markets/ institutions and equity. If the corporate world is exploitative, why not have Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) demonstrate the efficiency of pooling the bargaining power of farmers in price determination and show that they are a better option than having agri-corporates engaged in contract farming? What prevents agriculture graduates from taking up farming? The answer is very clear. While production technology has progressed through R&D, agricultural marketing is still caught in the trap of inefficiencies and imperfections of APMCs. And, even if our agri-graduates do well in agriculture, they are unable to reap a higher portion of the consumer’s rupee due to the middleman, thanks to whom the marketing costs have increased. It is, therefore, crucial for the farmers to accept the three new farm laws which will benefit them by injecting competing markets. Capital injection is crucial in agriculture for it to benefit from scale in production and marketing. The experience of opening up APMC markets has indicated that market prices can increase by at least 38% through the e-NAM. The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers.
How ? Every producer of any product has the liberty to sell at a price he chooses? Why not farmers ? Why should citizens pay + 70% of the price that farmer gets?
Just a rhetoric. The speaker has no figures / statistics to support his arguments. The APMC amendment merely opens up the market following laissez faire. He does not for instance compare the benefits of free market which has brought down the prices of communication and at the same time enhancing the revenue due to scale economies. Sounds nationalization of agricultural markets further exacerbating the predicament of farmers. There are no statistics regarding how many large corporates have come to Bihar and contributed to exploitation of farmers. Milk trade is quoted, however it is under coop sector. Milk is not a notified commodity in APMC as it is procured, processed, packed and distributed in the cooperative sector. He admits that bulk of the transaction is outside APMC, but does not argue how that fact is yet to provide remunerative prices to farmers. The Swaminathan has recommended that the MSP should be at least 50 percent more than the weighted average cost of production. Accordingly, Government has increased MSPs with a return of at least 50 percent over cost of production. The Bhuvantar Bhugatan yojana of MP assures the farmers the difference between the MSP and the price at which the produce is sold, which is below the MSP. The speaker does not recognize this. Mentions that the difference between A2 plus family labor plus 50% and comprehensive cost + 50% is a sizeable Rs. 800, but does not give details. Speaker assumes that the existing system of APMC will be taken away, which implies has not understood the policy. Mentions pro corporate intent indicating that farmers will be deprived of APMC. While on the other hand, APMC will continue and farmers have in addition other avenues where they may realize remunerative prices and farmers are totally free to chose wherever they wish to sell, even if they wish to sell at MSP or at any price offered is higher or lower than MSP. Speaker indicates that 145 million farmers, over 70% are net purchasers of food grains in the market. Thus high food prices are going to hurt the farmers. The speaker does not analyze the difference between the scale of farmer's production for the market and the size of farmer's consumption for the household. Obviously the scale of sale is higher than the size of purchase for the household. . This clearly shows the intent of the speaker in helping the farmers not realize remunerative prices by opposing the APMC amendments. Who is going to buy Cotton, sugarcane? Speaker mentions about labourers that they did not benefit from free market. While on the other hand it is precisely due to the free market for labor, the migrant labor force from one State is going to deficit state in search of higher wage rates. Agriculture labor is no exception. Agriculture labor is now no where below Rs. 300 as the NREGA wages are themselves Rs. 202 per day. The speaker is not aware of the inelastic demand for food produce as also inelastic supply of agricultural produce which is responsible for farmer being a price taker than a price maker and it is only the policy which needs to help farmers, similar to Brannan plan in the USA. The interview is an exhibition of shallow analysis of the situation as also offering no solution.
Actually demonetization helped to curb the spread of Naxalism in India. The Farm Bill is a form of liberalization similar to the removal of License Raj for industries by the Congress PM Narasimha Rao.
P Sainath & Devinder Sharma are the two people I trust the most when it comes to farmer's issues
Mr. P. Sainath is a gem of a person. His knowledge of the crisis unfolding before us is meticulous. His experience in the field of agriculture should be used by policymakers to secure stable, progressive and remunerative income for members in the farming community. This apart, Ms. Mitali's conduct and her questions are worth appreciating. They were crisp, to the point, and devoid of biases. 47 minutes of enlightenment on social media is quite extraordinary for the times in which we live. Thank you for bringing forth such a nuanced, in depth and we'll conducted discussion.
Thanks, Mitali, for bringing Sainath's fierce critique to the viewers.
I request all the people to please stand with farmers.... Otherwise the government will bulldoze many more bills on India.....🙏🙏🙏
ruclips.net/video/rk1PJOFppOw/видео.html
Don't cry for farmers | Joe-metric View
The farmers want to be liberated from APMC and commission agents.
This is what a civilized interview looks like.
We the people of India should uphold the interest of farmers who are supplier of our food.
Best sir, P sainath you very well exposed these pseudo nationalist BJP
Thank you Mitali and Wire.
P. Sainath is the only lone sane voice to understand farming and agrarian crisis. Lucky are the people who he has mentored and have worked with him.
I was waiting for P. Sainath's interview on this topic.
Exactly
Me too
Why isn't Mr Sainath in the Rajya Sabha? We need his wisdom and compassion for the farmers and Indian consumers.
It's because majority of Rajya And loksabha seats are basically for illiterate and idiots.
Coz Mr. Sainath is a journalist and he has criticized every single party that has exploited rural India.
Farmers have faced great losses
Even APMC existing
Let us see what happens without
This
I think its good bill passed by
Parliament
@@deshmukhbalraj yeah dream on
Utterly distressing and disgusting to hear about farmers distress... What an eye - opener... Thank you Mitali and Mr. Sainath!
What do you know about farmer distress!!!😎
@@Arihant997 Too open-ended a question that you are asking, anyways. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you do get to know the problems that people around you are facing. And hence i do know about farmer distress. Hope my response satisfies your vague query.
The promise of freedom to farmers in respect of selling their produce is illusory, deceptive and misleading.
It's very shocking to learn from P Sainath, that how government cheated us about Swaminathan's recommendations...
P Sainath is the best person to comment on the Bill. I was eagerly waiting for him.
even America doesn't put "free market" on its agriculture.
Huh? It is a free market.
@@annikrishna Not like Modi's!
Don't talk about something that is beyond your comprehension
@@vijayjosh5895 The present farm bill created a parallel market, removing APMC's monopoly. US dosent have APMC or MSP
@@vijayjosh5895 Its not Modi's. I have not found the bill in BJP manifesto, I feel they copied it from congress manifesto, to score points from farmers. But I might be wrong.
P. Sainath is an intellectual juggernaut. And Mitali was a great interviewer - giving him space, yet keeping him on track.
Great job, The Wire!
Neo liberalism will be the death of us.
Thanks you Wire..... For getting a different perspective of the agricultural issues
I would love to hear Vandana Shiva's opinion on these bills. Please invite her for another insightful interview.
Risk involved in ensuring food security for India is almost entirely borne by farmers of India.
Wow, it is not merely a farmers' issue. The corporates' power is becoming all-pervasive, and this has been proved by what has happened to the availability of education to poor students and how milk-producers have lost 45% of an already price for milk they are getting. This is a govt of the coporates by the corporates and for the coporates. It is so heartening to see a journalist expressing his concern for the "foot-lose" labour.
This is the most informative and to the point thing that I heard about the bill.
This is good interview on farmers distress I request Mr Sainath to write a detail report on the whole range of topics he has covered in this interview with full details in a book form so that many people and organisations can read the details and explain them to the people of our country. He has rightly said about the private hospitals and private education system which is looting the people in every way they can. In this free market society every sector of the private economy is linked and sucking the blood of the working people. The ruling parties weather UPA or NDA are just the representatives of the ruling classes that is the corporate sector, and the big bourgeoisie . As Mr Sainath has rightly said that this government is shooting in every direction.
I am not sure what his connection with farming, but his understanding, like most people talking on this matter, is very much like a city person’s understanding. He is talking about the extreme kind of bad consequences, which frankly won’t make the conditions of the farmers very bad.
I live in Mumbai and our family grow potatoes in rural south Bengal. I am in my mid-forties and I never have seen three consecutive years of profit from our land! Our neighbours now tied up with Pepsi to supply potatoes and I am told he is making decent money for the last few years!
This bill is not a panacea but a good beginning! Also, why the country continues to subsidies farmers who are growing rice and wheat when our existing stocks are getting used!
Palagummi Sainath (born 1957) is an Indian journalist who focuses on social & economic inequality, rural affairs, poverty and the aftermath of globalization in India.[2] He is the founder editor of the People's Archive of Rural India (PARI)[3] and a senior fellow for Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He was the Rural Affairs Editor at The Hindu before resigning in 2014,.[4] The website India Together[5] has been archiving some of his work in The Hindu daily for the past six years.[6] Since late 2011, he has been working on PARI,[7] of which he is the founder-editor.
Amartya Sen has called him "one of the world's great experts on famine and hunger".[8]
In June 2011, Sainath was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (DLitt) by the University of Alberta, the university's highest honor. He is one of few Indians to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which he accepted in 2007 in the category of Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts".
this is copied from Wikipedia.which is in public domainThis man certainly knows what he is speaking. the problem is not the only the removal of APMC but the opaque way it is being done. In the absence of proper regulatory authority, profit becomes profiteering for corporate and middleman, and farmers especially marginal farmers will continue to suffer. it will not remove middleman but bring even more middleman. If the government wants to protect farmers they should work on farm debt, strengthen cooperative movent and improve the ease of loan to the marginal farmers and educate them.
I am aware of him very impressive credentials! In case you have heard someone called Dr. Ashok Gulati, do read his analysis on the subject. I belong to a family of farmers, so I have some understanding of the problem my family goes through! Dr. Sen's wife was my teacher. I know some people who are his PhD. students. I can safely assume that if one explains him the measures, he would not reject it outright!
I am Studying the articles written by P.Sainath from my college days either in Frontline or Hindu. As of my knowledge Sainadh and Jayanthi Ghosh are the two people who understand the pain of farmers of India from ground level. The observation made by these two people on farmer related issues are most trustable. Because these people come to one conclusion after observing both pros and cons on particular subject. So I would like to subscribe the points made by Sainath....
Financial Express January 2, 2021 7:00 AM: Farmers needn’t fear agri-corporates, capital injection in agriculture is crucial to benefit from scale: By MG Chandrakanth
The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers. The recent agitation by farmers on the three farm laws voices the apprehension that crony capitalists will take over farms and APMCs and other markets. The eminent Gandhian scholar-activist from Karnataka, MD Nanjundaswamy, too, had similar apprehensions in 1995. However, virtually nothing happened since 1995, as far as entry of corporates or crony capitalists into agriculture is concerned. However, it remains a fact that agriculture is starved of capital today, and thus there is a need to attract capital to it.
Even in the US, more than 95% of the farms are family farms, and corporate farming has not entered the world’s most liberal capitalistic country in the way that most fear, here in India and around the world. That agriculture is a gamble on the monsoons is widely accepted; but it is also a gamble on the markets, due to increasing market imperfections and market inefficiencies. For perspective, out of 1.26 million registered companies in India, hardly 67 are purely agricultural companies, forming 0.008% of the pool. After including the existing 7,374 FPOs, it is a mere 0.59%! When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered India, there was a hue and cry among farmers that it is going to purchase the entire poultry industry. However, KFC is purchasing chicks from India, creating market for Indian poultry.
The state-of-the-art precision farm, Simply Fresh, was set up by two IT professionals returning from Australia in 2014. With an output of around 10 tonnes of organic fruit, vegetables, medicinal plants per day with an investment of `130 crore, Hyderabad-based DeHaat is offering access to quality inputs and market linkage to 4 lakh maize, wheat, banana, litchi, vegetable farmers in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha, resulting in a 50% increase in their farm-income. Former employees of Wipro, using digital initiatives, formed Stellapps in Bengaluru to digitise the supply-chain for 20 lakh dairy farmers (mostly small farmers) from 33,000 villages, managing an output of 11million litres of milk per day.
Mahindra & Mahindra is a big corporate that produces 40% of the tractors used in farming in India. Contract farming by Namdhari’s for quality vegetables for exports in Bidadi, Karnataka, is benefiting small farmers, as income derived per acre was the highest for this group. Future Consumer, Ninja Kart, Big Basket, Milk Basket, Farm Fresh, Y-Look, More, Max-hifer, Reliance Retail, etc, are involved in procuring quality fresh fruits in Malur in Karnataka. Small farmers benefitted more than large farmers through contract farming. The farmer-sellers are first registered and are informed about the need for X quantity of vegetables of a said quality to be supplied to their outlets in advance, and the proceeds are deposited in bank account in a transparent manner. Note here, that the uniqueness of Namdhari’s stems from the fact that farmers’ produce, in addition to being marked for exports, is also sold in Namdhari’s Fresh outlets in Bengaluru.
Agriculture now oscillates between the vagaries of monsoons/markets/ institutions and equity. If the corporate world is exploitative, why not have Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) demonstrate the efficiency of pooling the bargaining power of farmers in price determination and show that they are a better option than having agri-corporates engaged in contract farming?
What prevents agriculture graduates from taking up farming? The answer is very clear. While production technology has progressed through R&D, agricultural marketing is still caught in the trap of inefficiencies and imperfections of APMCs. And, even if our agri-graduates do well in agriculture, they are unable to reap a higher portion of the consumer’s rupee due to the middleman, thanks to whom the marketing costs have increased. It is, therefore, crucial for the farmers to accept the three new farm laws which will benefit them by injecting competing markets.
Capital injection is crucial in agriculture for it to benefit from scale in production and marketing. The experience of opening up APMC markets has indicated that market prices can increase by at least 38% through the e-NAM. The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers.
Excited to hear Sainath's view . A great speaker on farmers and the marginalized sections of the society of this country.
Take any sector, wily Modi means harm to the helpless, squeeze them till no juice left and drop them like a waste. Very heartless these people, generations on. A big fart
Thank you Mitali...Thank you Sainath... Both of you did such a wonderful job with this discussion... I would want to hope that we can rise from this mess someday..Fingers crossed !!!
My agriculture minister's name is P Sainath - this is what we need. Thanks wire and Mitali for this wonderful interview.
One thing can be said for sure that he is sitting in Mumbai.
Chaotic conditions is the target in every decision. Of the present rulers.
I can listen to Mr. P. Sainath and take notes how he does he data collection from govt sources
From my personal experience corporates selling food products in India are always associated with high adulteration. (They have bulk produce accumulated ) We have a new retail store of a top five billionaire in my junction. The prices sometimes are a little inexpensive. But I have time and again found food items adulterated. How disgusting and mean one can be if they are coating/mixing something like rice and ground nuts with chemicals. Now i get it from my local margin free store even though i may have to pay little more price. Much fresher too.
NOW.. Modi is so naive (or crook) to copy free market style from USa or elsewhere. Does he know that they have an efficient organization called FDA (which India cannot dream of in 100 years because of corruption, and influence) to check quality of food and drug? If shops fail they lose the license to sell altogether? They have a return policy for almost all items etc.
Fiscal transfers of over Rs1.45 lakh crore have been made to capitalists; and privatisation has got extended to natural resources, like coal, violating a promise of the anti-colonial struggle, and is now being considered even for the Railways.
The capitalists and financiers have never had it so good, while the working people, including the tribals facing dispossession, are being pushed to unprecedented levels of suffering.
BJP has zero knowledge of economics and, therefore, dances to the tune of finance capital whom it naively calls “wealth creators”. At the same time, it provides through its Hindutva agenda a smokescreen behind which it can do the biddings of finance capital. None of the pro-capitalist measures of the Modi government will do anything to alleviate the crisis. On the contrary, these would aggravate it greatly.
well said
You have hit the nail on the head.
Not God but people of India will save India by voting the right people on power and giving up coming new young politicians a chance who don't have money power backing them but talk sense!!🙏💪👍
Farmers made Chai Wala Prime Minister
What an interview! P.Sainath's grasp of the dynamics of the agrarian society and the prevalent political rhetoric is phenomenal, his ability to articulate these is awesome. Mitali too played the perfect interviewer by allowing P. Sainath space and time to expound his ideas unhindered.
2. The Essential Commodities Act (Amendment) Bill: It empowers the Central government to regulate food items in extraordinary circumstances or impose stock limits if there is a steep price rise. However, the points of contention are:
a) Till now only farmers, farmer cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations didn’t have any limit or restriction for stocking, producing or selling their crop. As a result, they take conscious decision of selling their crops only when the market or the buyer is offering good price for the crop. So, under this bill the farmers are not getting any new freedom. On the contrary the government is now removing all the foodstuffs from this category allowing companies and traders to store as much quantity of food as they want which amounts to promoting hoarding.
b) Through this Amendment the government is giving up its power to prevent hoarding and controlling price inflation. According to the law, government can intervene only if there is 50% price rise over previous year’s price in case of non-perishable goods and 100% price rise over previous year’s perishable goods.
3. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill: It allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers produce beyond the physical premises of Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee (APMC) markets. State will be now prohibited from levying any market fees or cess outside APMC areas.
a) The government says that now the farmers will have freedom to sell to anyone. Under the bill, the agri-business companies, corporate and traders will be allowed to open their own markets to purchase from farmers. However, the biggest fear coming from this is that it will destroy the level playing field between the APMC markets and other traders. Under the bill, the trade outside the APMC Mandis is virtually unregulated.
b) Farmers were demanding that in case the government is allowing, new set of farm markets to come up; the state and local government should be given power to oversee their functioning and also regulate them. However, the demand has been ignored.
c) Presently if the farmers feel the traders/corporate/agents working inside the APMC Mandis are involved in any unfair practices, they could complaint to the APMC Officers located in the yard itself. However, with the new Bill, in case of any disputes, farmers would be required to go to a sub-divisional magistrate court - which is beyond the capacity of small farmers to pursue given their financial constraints.
Mitali's interview was excellent and the journalist is very knowledgeable, learned few things from this interview. Thanks Mitali.
Why isn't the issues what Mr Sainath mentions being covered elsewhere...... The detail in which he is getting into is proof of amazing depth of understanding of the issue. Why isn't he and his ilk.. rare though... on committees that find a solution to these issues..
Doesn't the govt have NDA on people who know the details on the ground... and those who don't? Why aren't drafts sent out to seek feedback and discussed
Good analysis sir Thank you so much indeed
Since the government is full of IGNORAMUS why would they consult experts whereas in UPA I there were lot of consultation on RTI MNREGA which helped in better and smoother legislation.
Not only chaotic it's also illegal and unconstitutional . First-of-all Agriculture is a state subject and the Central government has stepped into a domain which was not a part of its regulation. Secondly Indian farmers most of which have small land holding on average of less than 1 acre feel that the laws will make them even more vulnerable as they give an edge to corporate and agri-business companies. The Bills have left the farmers agitated and divided due to several reasons.
For better understanding let’s peak into the bills and their major points of contentions.
1. The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill: It draws a framework for contract farming agreement between farmers and buyer before sowing of a crop and for dispute settlement prescribes three level mechanisms - the conciliation board, sub- divisional magistrate and appellate authority. However, the points of contention are:
a) Under this law it’s not mandatory for a company to make a written contract with the farmer for any contract farming. So, even if the company violates the terms of the contract, the farmer cannot prove it.
b) It does not have any provision to penalize companies which do not register their contracts. For eg: Last year, Potato farmers from Gujarat witnessed a big issue where Pepsico attempted to penalize potato farmers for growing the same seed varieties. The farmer organizations finally had to knock on the doors of the court and agitate to get justice.
c) Bill does not prescribe or specify that contract price of the crop should be at least equivalent or above the MSP. It means the contractor/companies can pay whatever price they want to the farmer. India’s experience of the contract farming has been poor with farmers getting very low rates through contract farming as compared to selling it in government mandis on MSPs (Minimum Support Price).
Mitali stunned. No question and every answer.
far leftist sainath is fearmonger of great proportion..
@@nvspraneeth901 and you are an ignoramus of great proportion.
I think she also felt a little soundboard. However, there is no doubt that Sainath is the best person on this topic.
@@nvspraneeth901 have read his book "Everybody loves a good drought", you should & then make your opinion.
@@pranavkumardas5770 his propaganda? the leftist propaganda? no.. i have read lot of his articles in frontline and i was like a fan of those lefties especially he n jayati ghosh but gosh they are so stupid, totally biased & anti free market..
Excellent illustration on Farm bill 2020 by H'ble P.Sainath & Many thanks to anchor Mithaliji for patiently conducting interviews.
THANKS FOR BRINGING IN P.SAINATH ON THE SHOW : HE SURE KNOWS THE GRASSROOTS OF INDIA : IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO LISTEN TO HIS VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT OF FARMERS : BUT WHO THE HELL IS LISTENING IN THE GOVERNMENT ? !
Its critical to understand the 'philosophy', as Mr. Sainath said in the interview, behind these moves of the government over the years. All these steps are well coordinated and orchestrated to marginalise the 'common man' and accumulate the wealth in the hands of the big corporations and a few billionaires, western and Indian alike, while leaving the people of this country paupers, like the British once did not so long ago which we haven't been able to recover form and the Americans and British and French and Dutch and others are been doing in country after country in Asia and Africa in the recent past. These politicians are just the puppets in the hands of these billionaires and their corporations, doing their bidding and collecting their keep in the process.
Thanks SAINATH JI FOR YOUR INPUT.
Most of Govts and Individuals are Economically Left leaning but the actions are opposite when Farmers are concerned.
Ibtedaye ishq hai! Dekhiye age hota hai kya!
This is a tip of iceberg of the farming society which is being exploited by corporates- both Indians and MNCS.If farmers continue to have trust in the present day political dispensation and continue to vote the BJP,no messiah can save them.They will be reduced to penury sooner than later.
What is hard to understand is the lack polical will on the part of regional political parties to organize resistance movements when there is a systematic and diabolical usurption of powers of the state governments.
The federal structure of Indian polity is torn to pieces: agriculture is out and out state subject, the Central Government can't and should not intervene in the matter; education is on the concurrent list of the Indian constitution,alas,the NEP 2020 appropriate itself the right to legislate with out consulting the states.
Regional political parties like TRS, AIADMK,TMC,AAP,TDP, DMK, CPM, CPI, Bahujan samaj party ( bsp), National Conference, Jahan's Congress will have to organise mass movements to regain the power snatched by the BJP. If they don't see writing on the wall, Indian political system will become authoritarian to the core.
P.Sainath is just too good! Hats off to you!
DNA of corporates is avarice. Therefore this mirage of a free market is just that. A mirage!!! People look without seeing. We have had a brutal 6 months. Yet at the last count Mukesh bhai rose to become the 5th or 6th richest man on the planet. Adani is acquiring Airport management rights left right and center. Both have more than a little help from their friends in high places. Suit boot ka sarkar and Arun Mishra like judiciary. As for the rest of us a barmecides feast. Eat Ache din.
There is also apprehension of hoarding and smuggling to export markets.
It was really smart of Sainath Sir to bring up Health and Education which is facing direction less..No ideological way ahead which the current govt is having... Agriculture was and will always be a private enterprise..Any govt regulation in country as diverse as India is just a Utopia especially since it is a state list subject... Communist spread that dream... Strangely China achieved labor and agri reforms because of Govt's absolute control..Which is never possible in India..All the rest are noises/sentiment arousing rhetoric in a democracy ...No radical change will be visible to a marginal /small farmer nor the end consumer buying vegetable and cereals...
I hope that the farmers of Maharashtra would listen to P Sainath, and not the leaders who r supporting the bill.
Namaste Sir,
First of all I would like to say big thanks to you for responding to my views. It is very great thing to learn something from eminent person like you. Here I don't have that much strength to conflict views expressed by you on this matter. In any section the reforms are very inviteble. With out reforms we are not stand where we are today. Here I would like wish big success to these acts and eradicate all the problems facing by our Indian farmers. But my concern is on the execution strength of the governments especially central government. Because the reforms taken by the Modi government are become curse to the people of India in every aspect. For example the note ban taken by the government become grave to the small scale industries even after completion of 4 years the bad impact of that decision is not come down. Due to that decision the unemployment rate reach to mountain level in our country. The same thing in the matter of GST also. We are always taking about decentralisation of everything. Due to GST in the financial matters the central government become iron hand and now the states become minority holders in the financial spectram of our country. The same thing happened in Lockdown issue also. We are all feel to be shame after watching such painful visuals of Migrant people. Here my question and concern is that whether central government has creat any platform to perform this act without mistkes. if this act become one more failure act India will witness very painful situation and finally question the food security of Indian people . Before making these kind of laws the Center go to one piolet project in particular state and find out the result and make any correction which are needed to implement all over country. With out having any ground work they think to implement is never be good.. Because the strength of this government is not up to mark in implementing of these kind of acts. Most of Indians face bitter experience due to acts of this central government.
The best expert on the issue! Thank you, The Wire!
All NDA policies are superb in paper.. but when they implement it, ends up in huge mess
Yes .. their implementation is wrong in most of the things.
Sainath is few intellect connected to ground zero. His arguments are based on data. I wound what solution he would have for Indian agriculture if he was current Agriculture minister.
Ei shob ke pips dream bole. This man is a national treasure, in any other country he would be advising governments. Brilliant mind, brilliant writer, and just a fantastic human being.
pipe *
You should interview Mr.Ashok Gulati. He's an expert in this subject and welcomed this
Exactly this is just a diatribe against the government.......
Ashok Gulati -- the guy bankrolled by every US foundation & who has a particularly bitter aversion towards India in favour of his paymasters. Traitor of the highest order.
Sound quality mars this wonderful discussion specially in respect of Mr Sainath. Please look into it.
Thanks for this interview Mitali. You certainly are among the best people in the profession. Also, loved your necklace. :)
P Sainath has great command over this issue .
I read his book "Everybody loves a good drought" about 15 years back. Must read if you want to get insights...
@@arindamdutta9371 sure.
@@arindamdutta9371 have you watched The Nero's Guest
Documentary by him
@@Persiancatbelaa nopes. Available on RUclips?
@@arindamdutta9371 yes watch it out .
You would love it.
Thank you Mr. Sainath Have been waiting to hear you, as there seems to be no source of this information, can you please be more active.
The guest drifted off a little to the pandemic and its management...Mitali very gently intervened to bring him back to the subject of farm sector bills..Tactful handling of the situation..
Yes🤦♀️
@@Ms0pinion Thank you.
Thanks Mitali and Mr. Sainath.
Farm related issues are State subject under the Constitution. Therefore, the Farmers bills passed by the Parliament is null & void, unjurisdictional and unconstitutional as well.
Go and look up Dr. Ashok Gulati talking to anti modi Raj deep Sardesai on NDTV and Sardesai agrees its a positive bill by the way if you want to know about Gulati google him to know what makes him an expert
It can be equated to MSME in automobile parts producers/ job work units who cant move out other than OEM. Prices will be cut throat between two small units...
Purely economic question: Sainath mentions that the larger fraction of farmers sell outside the ambit of APMC. Since he is an archive of statistics, it would have helped if he mentioned the percentage, especially how it varies among big agricultural states. Cause, if we take his argument at face value, the new bills might just be as he says: nothing more than a hogwash and eventually undermining APMC. But if there are significant states where the under-funded/under-valued APMC takes up a majority of the agro trading, then opening up the market helps on pen and paper.
Implementation and safe-guards are a different debate altogether.
Farmer bill is in right thing. Being associated with Market Committee and Farmers , so far the farmers were subjected to whims and facies of Market Committee officials and brokers. The Agricultural Act 1970 was O.K during the period when no cell phones were available. To day all the farmers are young educated and tech savvy, they can locate the market for their products sitting at home. Ultimately, water will find it's own level. These new generation farmers after few nasty experience will emerge victorious in market. Remember during 1969, after the nationalization of banks, many young first generation entrepreneurs ventured into manufacturing. Many burnt their fingers but at the same time they learnt a lot and improved their methods of manufacturing. Protectionism should be done away with. Push these entrepreneurs into water, they will learn to swim.
90% farmers do not have access to nearby markets and usually the middlemen are the source of their funding.So the middlemen will be there, working for corporats instead of APMC. Govt intension is good, but the rule is passed without any reality check.
Audio is bad, especially from the guest's side. Please rectify if possible. Very difficult to make out what he is saying.
Shabash . very beautifully explained.
The same bill was part of the Congress Manifesto in 2019 , how can Congress and any other political party can object to it. This was long overdue ..what Mr Shekhar Gupta on "Cut the clutter " says have got more value. This bill is good but it is to be communicated in a better way . I believe him . Rest all are side show and political .
I'm not aware if this was indeed mentioned in the Congress Manifesto, but even so, there are other parties in this country which have categorically opposed these bills - DMK, CPM, TMC etc. Even BJP's own ally, the SAD, has broken alliance due to these bills. Sainath himself addresses how Congress itself pioneered similar shifts in most other sectors. You can't restrict the entire range of political ideology and opinions in this extremely diverse country to BJP and Congress. If you indeed want to challenge the criticism of the bill, then do so on the merit of arguments. Explain how the bills have a net positive effect as you say it does. Address the apprehensions regarding the bills.
These laws - not sure how they will pan out but the feeling is that it will be bumpy for farmers. hope that in the long term it increases farm productivity and more wealth for farmers but right now it is scary....
Does this bill come into play the affect directly or indirectly the State-Centre relationship as it is intended to bring changes in Agriculture sector? If it is so the bill should have been cleared or passed by a majority of not less than 2/3 rd of members of that house present and voting.
Extraordinary discussion on farm crisis. Thanks
Be a farmer of 4 acers for a season. You will realize the reality of life.
Nicely put by mr. Sainath.
Genius n humble guy he is
I am really ashamed of having not heard P. Sainath speak earlier. Such a great command on the topic. Thank you Mitali for getting him on board.
Read his "everyone loves a good drought"
This is a govt. with a vision, a skewed vision! Corporates will control farming like in US. In US, farmers are in a dire straight and its farmer population is around 5%. Govt. doles out subsidy to them to keep them floating. Otherwise they are at the mercy of corporates. Same will happen in India. Only difference would be that Govt. would not bother to give any subsidy and our nos. are around 40% of population. They will be left high and dry! We will see development as in education and hospitals! They will grow but will be out of reach for common man. Farmers will lose out, consumer will lose out, private entities will gain and of course the rulers! The very fact Mr. Modi says that these bills are for the benefit of farmers and it will bring in prosperity for them should send alarm bells! We had witnesses what he did with de-monetisation, GST, MSME sector, Covid, Border issue with China. In the din of farm bill we have also lost on the labour reform bill. The bill grants hire & fire powers for corporates. This is also similar to US. Only in US, when someone loses his job, govt. supports employees till he finds another job! Do we have any govt. support? We had witnessed what happened with migrant labourers. This Govt. is systematically destroying every segment of society. Instead, they should handover governance directly to a corporate, be it Ambani/Adani or any other!
Superb discussion👍
HI, I AM ALWAYS CRYING, BECAUSE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING AROUND ME EVEN WHEN I DONT WANT THEM TO...PLEASE SHOW ME A BETTER WAY..!!
WIRE, CAN YOU GIVE ME A JOB? I DONT WANT MUCH MONEY, I JUST WANT TO MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THIS GOVT TO EXIST AND DO THE THINGS THEY ARE DOING, AND I PROMISE YOU THAT I WONT DISAPPOINT YOU..!!
He he he ha ha ha plz join Nation wants to know. Why join this tiny channel.
Finally a news channel that discusses relevant issues..
It was there all along but RUclips wont put you it in your recommendation.
What actually we do not get is the SOLUTION. Everyone , dissects the situation very well but no solution.
Govt has ministries. Each ministry has highly qualified people to help it. Minsters are supposed to take help from these people to find solutions.
So if someone has no one specific solution, your logic is to take every shit being doled out by Govt ?? Not even to point out fallacies especially if you’re an EXPERT in the field?
Sit down brother.
A possible solution proposed by eminent agriculture economist Divendra Sharma. He suggests an MSP below which no contract farming can be signed. You can watch it here
ruclips.net/video/WiiLSUUWsUU/видео.html
Finally P. sainath my one of the favorite journalist.
Election commission along with supreme court should be made mandatory to collect from all parties to file affidavit that public grievances highlighted in their manifesto should be well thought out assessed and should be implemented not at all go opposite.
If Modi&his faceless Agriculture minister claims the latest Agriculture bill tobe game Changer for farmers &freed lfrom APMCs jurisdiction but not freed from the eccentric Commerce Ministry in Delhi, which controls import/export of Agricultural commodities.Otherwise how come central govt. Suddenly stopped export of Onions?and import of veg oils& cotton at nearly.zero percent import duty?
Even a common man can see thru these bills. This is ONLY to facilitate Ambani to get the monopoly of every agricultural product in the country. once APMC 's are out of the way, the farmers will no more have one centralized place to sell their produce. Now the farmers will have to "Approach" individual buyers to sell their produce and Ambani will now come up with his Reliance Mandi and he will be the only one to buy the entire produce of the country to stock up in his REliance Mart. Whether you like it or not this is a scary situation where Ambani alone is going to own and control the farms and the Kirana stores. He has already taken up Future group which gives him unimaginable space for warehouses, store space and customer base and making it almost compulsory for all small kirana stores to use their JIo app which is in collaboration with Facebook in the fake pretense of making grocery sales online but the hidden agenda is to acquire every single detail of the Kirans store sales.
Mark my words in the next 3 months REliance will come up as the sole buyer of all agricultural produce in India. from 2021 be ready to raise your budget for the food you eat on an everyday basis.
Just for general knowledge There exists a law called The Competition Act 2002 which was passed to "Prevent" monopoly. BUt unfortunately the Gujju gang of AMbani and ADani are above that.
the best interview on agriculture ever.....
Financial Express January 2, 2021 7:00 AM: Farmers needn’t fear agri-corporates, capital injection in agriculture is crucial to benefit from scale: By MG Chandrakanth
The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers. The recent agitation by farmers on the three farm laws voices the apprehension that crony capitalists will take over farms and APMCs and other markets. The eminent Gandhian scholar-activist from Karnataka, MD Nanjundaswamy, too, had similar apprehensions in 1995. However, virtually nothing happened since 1995, as far as entry of corporates or crony capitalists into agriculture is concerned. However, it remains a fact that agriculture is starved of capital today, and thus there is a need to attract capital to it.
Even in the US, more than 95% of the farms are family farms, and corporate farming has not entered the world’s most liberal capitalistic country in the way that most fear, here in India and around the world. That agriculture is a gamble on the monsoons is widely accepted; but it is also a gamble on the markets, due to increasing market imperfections and market inefficiencies. For perspective, out of 1.26 million registered companies in India, hardly 67 are purely agricultural companies, forming 0.008% of the pool. After including the existing 7,374 FPOs, it is a mere 0.59%! When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered India, there was a hue and cry among farmers that it is going to purchase the entire poultry industry. However, KFC is purchasing chicks from India, creating market for Indian poultry.
The state-of-the-art precision farm, Simply Fresh, was set up by two IT professionals returning from Australia in 2014. With an output of around 10 tonnes of organic fruit, vegetables, medicinal plants per day with an investment of `130 crore, Hyderabad-based DeHaat is offering access to quality inputs and market linkage to 4 lakh maize, wheat, banana, litchi, vegetable farmers in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha, resulting in a 50% increase in their farm-income. Former employees of Wipro, using digital initiatives, formed Stellapps in Bengaluru to digitise the supply-chain for 20 lakh dairy farmers (mostly small farmers) from 33,000 villages, managing an output of 11million litres of milk per day.
Mahindra & Mahindra is a big corporate that produces 40% of the tractors used in farming in India. Contract farming by Namdhari’s for quality vegetables for exports in Bidadi, Karnataka, is benefiting small farmers, as income derived per acre was the highest for this group. Future Consumer, Ninja Kart, Big Basket, Milk Basket, Farm Fresh, Y-Look, More, Max-hifer, Reliance Retail, etc, are involved in procuring quality fresh fruits in Malur in Karnataka. Small farmers benefitted more than large farmers through contract farming. The farmer-sellers are first registered and are informed about the need for X quantity of vegetables of a said quality to be supplied to their outlets in advance, and the proceeds are deposited in bank account in a transparent manner. Note here, that the uniqueness of Namdhari’s stems from the fact that farmers’ produce, in addition to being marked for exports, is also sold in Namdhari’s Fresh outlets in Bengaluru.
Agriculture now oscillates between the vagaries of monsoons/markets/ institutions and equity. If the corporate world is exploitative, why not have Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) demonstrate the efficiency of pooling the bargaining power of farmers in price determination and show that they are a better option than having agri-corporates engaged in contract farming?
What prevents agriculture graduates from taking up farming? The answer is very clear. While production technology has progressed through R&D, agricultural marketing is still caught in the trap of inefficiencies and imperfections of APMCs. And, even if our agri-graduates do well in agriculture, they are unable to reap a higher portion of the consumer’s rupee due to the middleman, thanks to whom the marketing costs have increased. It is, therefore, crucial for the farmers to accept the three new farm laws which will benefit them by injecting competing markets.
Capital injection is crucial in agriculture for it to benefit from scale in production and marketing. The experience of opening up APMC markets has indicated that market prices can increase by at least 38% through the e-NAM. The role of corporates, especially in agriculture marketing, is far too significant as they can transfer a greater portion of the consumer rupee to farmers.
How ? Every producer of any product has the liberty to sell at a price he chooses? Why not farmers ? Why should citizens pay + 70% of the price that farmer gets?
Good to see Mitali after such a longtime in a receptacle news portal.
Just a rhetoric. The speaker has no figures / statistics to support his arguments. The APMC amendment merely opens up the market following laissez faire. He does not for instance compare the benefits of free market which has brought down the prices of communication and at the same time enhancing the revenue due to scale economies. Sounds nationalization of agricultural markets further exacerbating the predicament of farmers. There are no statistics regarding how many large corporates have come to Bihar and contributed to exploitation of farmers. Milk trade is quoted, however it is under coop sector. Milk is not a notified commodity in APMC as it is procured, processed, packed and distributed in the cooperative sector. He admits that bulk of the transaction is outside APMC, but does not argue how that fact is yet to provide remunerative prices to farmers. The Swaminathan has recommended that the MSP should be at least 50 percent more than the weighted average cost of production. Accordingly, Government has increased MSPs with a return of at least 50 percent over cost of production. The Bhuvantar Bhugatan yojana of MP assures the farmers the difference between the MSP and the price at which the produce is sold, which is below the MSP. The speaker does not recognize this. Mentions that the difference between A2 plus family labor plus 50% and comprehensive cost + 50% is a sizeable Rs. 800, but does not give details. Speaker assumes that the existing system of APMC will be taken away, which implies has not understood the policy. Mentions pro corporate intent indicating that farmers will be deprived of APMC. While on the other hand, APMC will continue and farmers have in addition other avenues where they may realize remunerative prices and farmers are totally free to chose wherever they wish to sell, even if they wish to sell at MSP or at any price offered is higher or lower than MSP. Speaker indicates that 145 million farmers, over 70% are net purchasers of food grains in the market. Thus high food prices are going to hurt the farmers. The speaker does not analyze the difference between the scale of farmer's production for the market and the size of farmer's consumption for the household. Obviously the scale of sale is higher than the size of purchase for the household. . This clearly shows the intent of the speaker in helping the farmers not realize remunerative prices by opposing the APMC amendments. Who is going to buy Cotton, sugarcane? Speaker mentions about labourers that they did not benefit from free market. While on the other hand it is precisely due to the free market for labor, the migrant labor force from one State is going to deficit state in search of higher wage rates. Agriculture labor is no exception. Agriculture labor is now no where below Rs. 300 as the NREGA wages are themselves Rs. 202 per day. The speaker is not aware of the inelastic demand for food produce as also inelastic supply of agricultural produce which is responsible for farmer being a price taker than a price maker and it is only the policy which needs to help farmers, similar to Brannan plan in the USA. The interview is an exhibition of shallow analysis of the situation as also offering no solution.
Also Interview Mr. Devinder Sharma another expert on Agriculture !
Thank you Mitali
I love you so much sir P Sainath
Actually demonetization helped to curb the spread of Naxalism in India. The Farm Bill is a form of liberalization similar to the removal of License Raj for industries by the Congress PM Narasimha Rao.
So what is the way forward. Should status quo remain.
Can you ask the panelists to wear a headphones? This is horrible audio and it's a pain to hear it on my headphones.
Excellent interview
Politicians are middlemen and so they are frustrated. They have been taken out.
Who'z better than Sainath to throw lights on this topic..!!!