Sachin vs Rihanna

Farm laws and the narratives that surround it.

Edit: I am updating this article after hearing some views from a neoliberal economist who believes these laws are in the right direction. While I don’t agree with him completely I will share what I learnt at the last section of this article.

Woke up today to see my worlds collide on Twitter. Sachin Tendulkar had spoken “External forces can be spectators but not participants”.

Sachin Tendulkar on Twitter: “India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda”

He was probably miffed at why spectators were not cheering “Sachin Sachin”. May be, it was the age old anger one feels against the west fortelling us how to run the show. But in all likeliness he was mostly forced to tweet it out just like Rihanna was. We can dive deep into this reactionary outpour and the supposed insecurity we feel in our sovereignty but lets save that for another day. Let’s focus on the narratives here.

So we have successfully managed to make the farmer protests about the people commenting on the people protesting against three poorly thought out farm laws. Diversions and lot of them, to take away from the topic at hand — the farm laws. Lest we forget here are the major issues with the farm laws, The Major Issues With The Farm Laws ft. Samdish — YouTube.

Let’s take a pause here. If you disagree with the points in the video or the source of the video, you can stop reading. The rest of this article is going to disappoint you.

Now that we have agreed on the points. Let’s go back to why the farmers are protesting.

1. Minimum selling price not fulfilled.
2. Systematic dismantling of APMC and likes.
3. Disputes cannot be resolved in courts.
4. Essential commodities — no limits on hoarding for private players who will in turn control the prices.

With so many plot holes one can question the motives the government of pushing these laws down the throat of the farmer.

The timing

This is probably the worst time to be disrupting agriculture now. With COVID disrupting agriculture, affecting the food supply chain and the incomes of at least 100 million people(1), one couldn’t have found a worse time to stir shit.

The saner motive

A narrative I have read from right wing neo-liberals make is wanting to move our labour force away from agriculture(2). A fair motivation and I guess that’s how a developed nation is defined worldwide. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s see what this entails.

1. We want the productivity of the agriculture industry to improve because self sufficiency is key. So either we are talking magically improving productivity while reducing the work force or this is an indirect pitch for large corporate owned farms. Aaand… regarding the latter, the doors seem to be opening everywhere. (3)
2. So 41% of our labour force works in the agriculture industry(4). Trusting the data(which in all fairness is probably outdated and inaccurate) that is approximately 200 million working in the agriculture. Let’s say we want to reduce this by 10% percent spread over 5 years. That is 20 million new jobs just to accommodate this work force in 5 years! With unemployment rates at all time high one can see how difficult this is going to be.
3. Agriculture is mostly rural in India. Most of the labour is predominantly in agriculture. Then there is the MNREGA which is overloaded due to labour migration during COVID(5)(The govt reduced the budget for this? Lol!). Now let’s assume we want to move this massive workforce out of agriculture. Do you not think with the inability of our villages to be self sufficient outside agriculture, this might lead to a mass exodus to the cities?

The evil motive

The last and the final one is the one you would have guessed by now, government appeasing their corporate overlords. Goes without saying, the big media houses the corporates own are out and about shouting from their microphones.

So there we are. Of course most of what I wrote about might be plain bs because I might be missing part of the information and I don’t even claim to be a near expert at this. But, it is not hard to see the flavour of BJP rule — PRIVATE PLAYERS RULETH!

It is chaotic out there. There is Kangana, Diljit, Rihanna, Greta, Sachin, Kumble, fake farmers, terrorists and a hundred other narratives. A hundred diversions stacked on top of one another. But the thing that needs attention are these diabolical laws that tries to yet again “revolutionize” the system while not respecting the people within the system.

India play England from tomorrow and I am going to go back to live tweeting that while I conveniently ignore all of this. But before I go here’s me fulfilling a bit of what John Lewis said,

When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something! Do something! Get in trouble! Good trouble! Necessary trouble!

Thoda Sadda Haq bajaya jaye then?

Update

I listened to a great episode of the Seen and the Unseen with Amit Varma and Ajay Shah where they discuss to a lot of things about policy, state capacity in public health and touch upon the three farm laws. I enjoyed this episode, but I havea few quibbles. So I will add what I learnt along with my views on them.

1. MSP might pose major problems to diversity of crops. Simply put if Govt offers of MSP of 15Rs on wheat and 10Rs on rice, the farmers will be encouraged to grow more Wheat, creating an imbalance. This is really basic, but hope you get the gist.
   Views — This is a fantastic point. They also say MSP can be replaced by a robust futures market(Google this for deets) where a farmer can get some guarantee on future crop prices. This is fascinating. Meanwhile, there is Modiji faking again with “MSP was there, is there, will be there”. Go figure.🍌
2. APMC’s will stay. The new laws only open up the farmers to a whole range of other option.
   Views — Farmers are right here. APMC will slowly get phased out while private players take control. Also, the inability to settle disputes in court is a big red flag. Yes, the famers need flexibility to sell their crops but not without a clear safety net!
3. Self sufficiency — Ajay Shah mentions we are stuck back in time and contemporary India is highly self sufficient. That means, we open our market to international agricultural trade. Tulips grown in Punjab’s farms, for example. (Wow, that would be one scene. Imagine Simran running up to Raj in a farm of colourful tulips. Noice!).
   Views — Totally not onboard with this one. Feels like Ajay is taking a very ideal route. One bad monsoon and we are talking about out entire produce cycle getting messed up. These dreams of free trade and trading for cash crops feels like building castles in thin air. However, on self sufficiency I need to dig in more. But, I recall P Srinath had expressed legit concerns on starvation after COVID. So I guess someone’s far removed from reality. Someone for sure. There was this wonderful answer on China’s self sufficiency in Quora. May be India’s Quora mafia can write a similar one and send it my way.

So here I am,
1. MSP should not be in the laws — ✅ .

2. Ability to sell anywhere — 👍 but first give a safety net and start with dispute resolution in courts.

3. Free market dreams for international agriculture trade — 👎

Sources:

1. Coronavirus exacerbates India′s hunger problem | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 16.10.2020
2. https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1355741940453683200?s=20 (If you are here, this tweet is funny. It is like the chief justice is delivering the budget. Lol. RIP judiciary.)
3. Karnataka assembly passes amendment to land reforms act, makes it easy to buy farm lands — The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)
4. Labour in India — Wikipedia
5. India needs more ‘productive’ jobs and higher wages to address its demand problem | Business Insider India