A wilful negligence(IE)

A wilful negligence(IE)

Context

Governments have not acted on recommendations of committees on farmer welfare

Committees on farmer suicides

The central government constituted a series of high-powered committees on farmers’ suicides

• The Ramesh Chand Committee Report, March 2015: It recommended that
• The Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be calculated by computing farm labour at the skilled wage rate
• Calculating land rent at the actual rent without any ceiling
• Calculating interest on working capital by including a factor relating to borrowing from non-institutional sources
• Calculating interest on working capital for the whole and not half the crop season, by including in the cost of cultivation post-harvest costs and by including the rate of inflation. If this is done, the MSP would rise by over 50 per cent
• Government should correct all instances where the MSP is lower than the cost of production. Not only has the MSP not been scientifically revised, but farmers have been forced to sell below the MSP across India. It drew attention to the recommendations of the National Farmers Commission headed by M.S. Swaminathan that had made a similar recommendation decades ago

Problems with Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana

PMFBY was launched to provide crop insurance to nine crore agricultural households

• Lack of awareness & coverage: The Centre for Science and Environment reported that only 20 per cent of the eligible farmers were covered and most farmers had no idea about the scheme
• Tenant farmers not covered: This insurance scheme does not cover tenant farmers even though they constitute 50 per cent of farmers’ suicides in Andhra Pradesh and other states
• Women farmers not covered: The insurance schemes does not cover women farmers even though the National Farmers’ Commission recommended decades ago that their names be included in the column of cultivators and concessions on registrations and stamp duty be granted to women to incentivise land transfers to them
• Solution: M.S. Swaminathan had drafted a Women Farmers Entitlements Bill, 2011 which was revised by the MahilaKisan Adhikar Manch. No one in government took notice. This bill should be looked intoseiously

Steps to reduce rural indebtedness

• Follow RBI guidelines: For this, the RBI guidelines that require 18 per cent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) to be set aside for agriculture, and 8 per cent of this exclusively for small and marginal holders, must be followed
• Implement the recommendations of Task force on Organic and Non-organic farming
• The central government-appointed Task Force on Organic and Non-Chemical Farming recommended in 2016 that all states should substitute chemical fertilisers with bio inputs in at least 10 per cent of the net cultivated area (up from 1 per cent today) and provide high-quality organic seeds to farmers by 2025
• Similar recommendations were made by the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates headed by Murli Manohar Joshi

What is National Commission on Farmers?

• National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was constituted on November 18, 2004, by the Government of India. The commission was formed under the chairmanship of Professor M.S. Swaminathan. The NCF submitted four reports in December 2004, August 2005, December 2005 and April 2006 respectively.  The fifth and final report was submitted on October 4, 2006.
• The reports contain suggestions to achieve the goal of “faster and more inclusive growth” as envisaged in the Approach to 11^thFive Year Plan

Read More: National Commission on Farmers