The reform thrust image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received a severe dent in his scrapping the three farm laws. For over a year Modi has advanced sound rationale for the agri reforms that would liberate agri product marketing from the confines of a state and benefit farmers across the country. The stubborn and often violent resistance by the farmers of the three beneficiary states – Punjab, Haryana and UP – received the backing of parties opposed to the BJP – Aam Aadmi, Congress, Communists, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi…Most of these parties did not bother to go into the merits of the reforms.
IE has been. pointing to the vested interests of the farmers and the Government of Punjab in the continuance of the present assured procurement system with guaranteed minimum support price (MSP). The ability of the farm communities of the three states to get assured market outlets and continually increasing prices of rice and wheat sustained the agitation for long. This in a way also signified the prosperity and the clout of the farmers of Punjab both from within the country and abroad.
The forthcoming elections in Punjab and UP obviously are the triggers for the sudden about-turn in policy.
Failure of supreme court… content to observe and not decide…
Quite disappointingly, the Supreme Court of India has also failed miserably in addressing the weighty issues involved. It is all the more surprising in the context of the propensity of senior judges often making critical observations on governments’ policies. The highest court appointed a committee of experts to look into the issue. Surprisingly and even shockingly, the court did not publicise the report produced by the experts and sat on it for months. Despite warnings by the judges on ending the blockade, the court did little beyond. Like the Ram temple Ayodhya issue, a firm decision by the court would have ended the impasse.
For 25 years from 1989 to 2014 the succession of coalition governments prevented decisive action on several issues of essential economic reforms. With the decisive majority of the Modi government in the 2014 elections provided the opportunity for looking at such reforms. But still there was the constraint of lack of majority in the Rajya Sabha. By 2019 even this changed with the comfortable majority for BJP in the Lok Sabha with ability to muster majority support in the Rajya Sabha too.
The Covid-19 pandemic witnessed a steep negative growth of the economy after four years of continuous decline. With signs of
recovery the Modi government has been coming out with a spate of reforms including privatisation of public sector units (PSUs), monetisation of public assets… These required states to co-operate in the more adroit management of their PSUs, especially the state-owned distribution companies. Sadly, several states including the BJP ruled UP and the DMK run TN, Discoms have been resisting such needed reforms purely on electoral calculus.
Having tasted blood, there’ll be more impossible demands
The powerful farm lobby is bound to gloat over its ability to make the government scrap the farm laws; one can expect the agitators to demand an even more favourable MSP regime with even higher prices for procuring the grains.
The food godowns are already overflowing. The costs of production of rice and wheat are much higher than international prices and thus there is little scope for exporting these; this will also call for orienting the quality and the variety demanded by the consuming nations which the easy-go-lucky farmers of the three prosperous states would not exert to change.
Sadly, after the resounding victory of BJP in UP’s last assembly elections and its being in power in Haryana, Modi and his team did not exert enough to convince even farmers in these two states. This single failure has resulted in capitulation purely on election arithmetic.
With more than seven years in power, Modi should have focused on his another rational idea of simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures; this also should have helped in avoiding such sudden reversal of policy as an election compulsion.
The capitulation will also embolden the trade unions and the political parties in opposition to gang together and oppose tooth and nail other essential reforms like privatisation of PSUs, monetisation of public assets, labour reforms…
BJP’s political machinery should exert more in taking such vital issues to the citizens across the country and build consensus over a vast spectrum. The judiciary could also help in being decisive on such vital issues in quick time and not content to make a few casual observations.
