Changes in Agrarian Relations Since Independence
6.1 Bitter and many times violent struggles by farmers resisting the forcible acquisition of land by the state and the corporate entities with the active help of the state have been taking place in many parts of the country. We have seen standoffs between the state power and the peasantry in NaiDA and other districts in UP, long drawn out anti posco struggle in Jagatsingpur. (Orissa), movement against the nuclear plant in Jaitapur (Maharashtra) and so forth. Many lives have been lost in the course of these struggles.
In trying to grab the farmers' land, the bourgeois government has used the Land Acquisition Act of colonial era and justified indiscriminate use of force against peasantry by insisting that it is a necessary step for development. In the process, severallakh acres of land have been acquired and millions of peasants and other dependent on land have been evicted and deprived of their livelihood. This is a crude and brutal offensive of the bourgeois state led by the corporate houses and big business.
6.2 The development of capitalism in Indian agriculture is based on a compromise with feudal remnants on the one-hand, and collusion with foreign capital on the other. While semi-feudal production relations still dominate many parts in rural India, the door has been opened for the multinational corporations to enter the field and assume cardinal positions in certain areas. IMF, World Bank and the WTO have played an active role in this respect. The government has signed Indo-US Agricultural Initiative where representatives of Monsanto, Cargill and other multinational companies participate in joint committees to take important decisions on research and new initiatives in Indian Agriculture.
6.3 It is important to see the tremendous changes which have taken place in the agrarian sector since independence. These changes have been speeded up under neo-liberalism i.e. in the last three decades.
Before Independence two popular slogans of peasant movement were, "Abolish the Zamindary System" and "Land to the Tillers". The formation of the All India Kisan Sabha in 1936 added militancy and urgency to these slogans, underlined the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist character of the movement and made it an integral part of national liberation struggle. With Congress party coming to power, land reform legislations putting an end to the Zamindary, Jagirdary and all forms of intermediaries were enacted in all the state assemblies. The occupancy tenants got direct control over land that they tilled. The rulers of princely states and the feudal landlords had constituted the crucial social and political base of colonial power. It was, therefore, expected that in independent India no place will be given to them in political and economic spheres. This did not happen. Congress party continued its alliance with the landlords as well as the dislodged rulers of princely states. The peasants paid Rs. 600 crores to the erstwhile Zamindars for getting control over their land. The landlords were also, given an opportunity to become 'capitalist (farmer) landlords and evict thousands of ''tenants-at-will'' in the name of resuming self-cultivation. The capitalist landlords and the new stratum of rich peasants formed the political base of the new ruling class in countryside.
6.4 Along with abolition of intermediaries the land reform legislations also included provisions for imposing ceiling on land holdings and protecting tenant farmers from exploitative land leasing practices. But the implementation record of land redistribution and tenancy reforms has been very poor in every state except west Bengal, Kerala and Jammu Kashmir.
After the state governments had enacted first round of ceiling laws, the Mahalanobis Committee estimated that there was 63 million acres of ceiling surplus land in the country. In 2004 the Union Govt. informed Parliament that the land declared surplus in the country was 7.3 million acres, land acquired by state governments was 6.5 million acres and the land actually distributed was only 5.3 million acres (most of this was done in the states of West Bengal and Kerala). The marginal and small holdings are 62% of the total holdings, but the area cultivated by them is only 19%.
6.5 The expectation of landless peasantry was belied and in 60s and 70s land struggles took place in many parts. The Communist Party of India headed by C. Rajeshwar Rao carried out several militant land struggles for breaking up large estates under the occupation of big landlords. Several thousand acres of land was captured and distributed among landless peasants and agricultural labour. In many cases the farmers or their children are still cultivating the land, which they had taken possession of in 60s and 70s. They cultivate the land although legal entitlement has been given to only a few households.
6.6 The Naxalbari Movement also rose in 1967 calling for land redistribution. Although it did not come up on the centre stage, it played an important role in persuading West Bengal government to redistribute surplus land and carry out meaningful tenancy reforms. The impetus land struggle in 60s and 70s petered out with time.
6.7 The Green Revolution was introduced in mid-sixties in the northern states. The government invested a great deal of resources in HYV programme. The necessary physical andmarket infrastructure was provided on subsidised rates to the well endowed farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western U.P. Productivity increased manifold and the class of resource-rich capitalist farmer was consolidated. At the same time a large number of small and marginal farmers moved out of agriculture in these states. The Green Revolution increased disparities both between regions and within regions. It needs to be noted that notwithstanding the emergence of a powerful capitalist farmers lobby, the semi-feudal production relations survived the entire period of the green revolution prosperity.
6.8 The Structural Adjustment Programme, which heralded the offensive of liberalization, privatization and globalization, brought with it a new crisis in rural livelihoods. The inclusion of agriculture in the Urguay Round of negotiations and the so-called Free Trade Agreements with some countries under the new regime of WTO have adversely affected our agriculture. All restrictions on external and internal trade of agricultural commodities were removed and the agrarian sector was exposed to unfair and unequal intemational competition. The domestic and foreign multinational companies rapidly made deep inroads in input and output markets. The supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides is now largely control led by MNCs The recent mode of attack on Indian peasantry is through forcibly providing genetically modified seeds by the seed MNC's in collaboration with government. This is creating havoc and instability in agricultural production. The government intends to pass a 'Seed Bill' which will give a legal basis to this attack on agriculture.
6.9 Starting from year 2000, a new offensive was launched on the farm sector by corporate and industrial units, building and land mafia, real estate developers and the government in the name of SEZ and other developmental projects. The state governments invoked antiquated Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to evict peasants from their land and handover the land to private companies. Under the neo-liberal frame, the state governments reversed the clock of land reform. The corporate sector has been allotted vast tracts of forest land and the so called waste land. It has also got indirect control over farm land through the provision of contract farming.
Apart from forcible land grab and introduction of contract farming by corporate houses, the farmers are also subjected to an iniquitous credit system. Nationalised banks giving loans for agriculture and small industries as a priority sector are neglecting this task. Once again the peasants are being thrown to the tender mercies of the money lenders or so-called 'loan providers'. It is estimated that while the banking system as a whole financed 35.6% of the loans, private money lenders accounted for 25.7% of the loans advanced to farmers. A much trumpeted 'loan waiver' gave relief only to a small section of the peasantry just on the eve of the 2009 general election. This provides no solution to the credit needs of agriculture, which requires an easy access to credit at no more than four percent rate of interest.
6.10 As to irrigation, only around 41 % of net sown area is irrigated during Kharif and 65% during Rabi seasons. Availability of water varies across the states. Public investment in irrigation is negligible. The transition from surface water to ground water actually implies the privatization of irrigation infrastructure. The ownership of ground water assets naturally belongs to rich peasants and affluent landowners.
A corollary has been the emergence of internal ground water markets and pump-rental markets. To secure access to ground water the rest of the peasantry including the small and marginal farmers have to pay a heavy amount as rental for this facility.
6.11 Following the repeated hikes in the prices of fuel, so essential to the farmers, there are moves to increase the prices of fertilizers too. Market forces unleashed by a government wedded to neo-liberalism are squeezing the farmers dry. The neo liberal policy frame affected all sections of the peasantry adversely.
The big farmer' lobby took an ambiguous stance towards the new regime. Initially, they perceived trade liberalisation and entry of agribusiness as programmes advantageous to them. However, the deflationary trend in world market prices in latter half of 90s and unequal bargaining power vis-a-vis the corporate lobby made them uncomfortable. The big farmer lobby now opposes free trade and demands protection of its economic space through state intervention.
The medium and small farmers generally follow the lead provided by the big farmers in switching over to new technology, new cropping pattern and new production arrangements. Sometimes they do it willingly in the hope that the returns will be high. More often it is done under compulsion because earlier infrastructure has been dismantled. In 1980s and 90s the medium and semi-medium farmers shifted to new cropping pattern and new technology. This shift required increased resources and entailed greater risk. The consequent indebtedness and the spate of farmers suicides has become a matter of great concern.
6.12 As for the small and marginal farmers, they have increasingly got dispossessed of their land and other resource base. In 2004-05, around 43 per cent of rural households had no land to cultivate. In addition, 22 per cent households cultivated less than 1 acre of land, which is insufficient to meet basic needs. The dispossessed marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers rarely commit suicides. Instead, the men migrate out in search of jobs, leaving behind the non-viable pieces of land for the women to cultivate. The number of male cultivators declined by 4.24 million between 1991 and 2001, while the number of women cultivators increased by 5.71 million during the same period.
6.13 The beginning of the 21 st century has been greeted by a pervasive and intractable agrarian crisis in Indian economy. More than two lakh farmers have committed suicides. The number increases every day. Agricultural growth has stagnated. The share of agriculture in National income has come down to 12%, whereas its share in workforce still remains as high as 58 percent. The cumulative effect of neo-liberal measures is that the goal of real food security i.e. "Food for All" is receding howsoever much the government claims to legislate a Food Security Act. Per capita food grain availability in the country has declined in past decade. A big country like ours with a huge population has to defend its food sovereignty. It cannot afford to depend on food imports to feed its people. Food export is a political weapon of imperialist countries and the major food exporting countries like US extract a heavy price.
6.14 With the intensification of the agrarian crisis, features like usury, bondage and caste violence have resurfaced aggressively. Absentee landlords continue to exist extensively in Bihar and in some other parts, especially in the Hindi belt. The Bihar Land Reform Commission constituted in 2006 prepared a list of big landlords clandestinely holding thousands of acres of land and running a shadow Zamindary system. Hathua Raj in Gopalgunge, Bettiah Raj and Sikarpure Estate in Bettiah, Kausalaraj in Katihar are a few such names. They are in addition to the religious trusts and maths who hold thousands of acres of land.
Due to the crisis in agriculture, uncertainty caused by floods and droughts in certain regions, the growing burden of indebtedness and the lack of employment there is large-scale migration from the rural to the urban centers in search of work and better opportunities of livelihood. This has led to rapid increase in urbanization and certain cities have expanded into huge mega cities with slums, inadequate infrastructure and rise in general social problems.
6.15 Arable land is shrinking. With the real estate boom, the land market has become very active in rural India. It is calculated that between 1992-93 and 2002-03, as much as 18 million hectares of arable land has got transferred to non agricultural uses. Beside forcible acquisition and consequent eviction of peasantry by the state, a great deal of land has also slipped out of agriculture through the operation of local land markets. The markets have created a huge demand for non-agricultural use of land on the one hand, and have made farm operations non-viable for a large section of peasantry on the other. During the decade between 1991 and 2001, over 7 million people i.e. nearly 2000 people a day, for whom cultivation was the main source of livelihood; quit farming. That underlines the depth of the crisis in agriculture. Where do they go? They migrate to the cities in search of work, often wandering from one place to another. This is the route of rapid urbanization which is taking place in the country, and the source of the exploited mass of unorganized contract and casual labour. They swell the ranks of the reserve army of the unemployed.
Forcible acquisition and eviction have provoked violent struggles in different parts of the country in the last few years. A section of the peasantry, especially the well-off section is willing to part with some land by demanding an 'appropriate price' for their land. At the same time the tribals who are the most hit by forcible acquisition and eviction, as well as a section of small peasantry are unwilling to part with their land altogether. They reflect the different positions of the different layers within the peasantry. The small and marginal peasant clings on to his miserable plot of land as the only source of livelihood and his place in rural society, even though it is not sufficient to meet his basic needs.
6.16 While tribals constitute 8.08% of the entire population, there are 40% of tribals among the displaced and affected persons. Official figures claim that 28% of the displaced tribals have been rehabilitated. What has happened to the remaining 72% who number nearly 1.5 crores? They are truly the victims of such 'development'. Agriculture in India is being drawn into the world commodity market, subjecting land, water, resources and other agricultural inputs and outputs to inexorable market forces. This signals the growth and development of capitalism and capitalist relations of production in agriculture. The growth of capitalism in agriculture is sharpening all the social contradictions. Superimposed on the ruins of earlier modes, it accounts for the specific nature of the crisis in agriculture, the widening disparities and the misery of the lower strata of the working peasantry. A most heart breaking suspect of the crisis is the suicide of more than two and a half lakh kisans in 8 years.
Though capitalist development has proceeded apace there is a mixture and co-existence of several earlier social formations - feudal, semi-feudal, tribal scattered across a vast territory of the country.
6.17 Land, water, jobs, food have become the focus of the ongoing and impending struggles and peoples' movement. The land problem cannot be resolved without severe class struggle in the countryside. Some of the important issues raised by these struggles can be enumerated. Land is the key issue in this struggle for carrying forward the new democratic revolution. Demands that have to be fought for are:
i) Abolition of feudal and semi-feudal remnants, for the strict implementation of ceiling and tenancy laws and also for the cancellation of all benami transactions of land.
ii) Repeal of the colonial era Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Its replacement by a new law which is pro-farmer and provides for rehabilitation and resettlement in case any agricultural land is diverted for non-agricultural use. Fertile multi-crop land to be exempted from any such acquisition, whether for public, private or public-private partnership projects.
iii) SEZ is neither inevitable nor necessary for industrialization. A halt to further inroads of SEZs. Land already acquired in excess should be returned to the farmers.
iv) All moves to repeal the ceiling laws on rural (and urban) land to facilitate the drive of business houses and the builder and land mafias to acquire land for speculative gains should be banned.
v) Oppose all attempts of introducing corporate and contract farming. Opposition to opening up of the agricultural sector to the entry of multi-national corporations and to the free market forces as suggested by the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO regime.
vi) Provide easy access to institutional loans at 4% rate of interest. Small and marginal farmers to be given protection and preferential treatment in such matters as credit, supply of plants, seed, fertilizers, access to markets etc. so as to make farming productive, efficient and viable.
vii) Remunerative prices for agricultural produce and for maintaining parity in terms of trade between industry and agriculture, and against loot by monopolies and multinationals. Agriculture to be made profitable, a paying and respectable profession. Capital accumulation should be through surplus earnlnqs not through intensified exploitation of farmers.
viii) Giving emphasis to the growth of dry land agriculture. Massive public investment for the growth of infrastructure facilities like irrigation, rural electrification, market development, network of village roads. Proper implementation of NAREGA, with social audit.
ix) Ensuring flood control and prevention of water logging. Large scale tree plantation to maintain the ecological balance.
x) Agriculture should be diversified and agricultural income increased by encouraging supplementary occupations like dairy and poultry farming, sheep rearing, horticulture and fisheries, echo-culture and sericulture, social forestry etc.
xi) Encourage small scale, tiny and cottage industries especially agro-industries so as to draw a significant part of the work force dependent on agriculture into the non-agricultural sector.
xii) All anti-poverty and rural development programmes as well as employment generation programmes should be integrated with agriculture development through the Panchayat-raj institutions. Leakage of these funds should be arrested through social audits involving the panchayats. MNREGA work should be used mainly for building assets for agricultural growth.
xiii) Steps be taken to develop better indigenous bio-technical and genetic engineering. India being the country with the largest livestock, emphasis should be given on organic farming.
xiv) Struggle against price rise, and for a food security act based on a universal public distribution system, which will ensure food for all.
6.18 The struggles undertaken by peasantry and other marginalised sections of society have a sharp anti-capitalist character, in particular against the domestic and foreign corporate entities. The collective political struggles of the marginalised peasantry can be further strengthened by persuading the resource poor peasants to form a collective economic base.
6.19 The next step forward is to see that farmers, in particular small and marginal farmers are encouraged to form cooperatives strictly on a voluntary basis in different spheres of agricultural operation and economic life. Such cooperatives will demand help and facilities from the state for their effective functioning. Cooperatives are not just economic units. They have a political, social and cultural role to play in bringing about systemic changes.
India's foreign policy is thus subject to many complex and contradictory factors. The task of the progressive and democratic movement in the country is to ensure that India's foreign policy retains its independent and anti-imperialist character and stands in solidarity with all countries fighting for independence, democracy, social progress and socialism.
The Issue of Food Security:
6.20 Despite the vast agricultural potential of India, agriculture is in a state of crisis. In particular the production of certain items which are the main source of nutrition for the common people are declining. India is today a net importer of foodgrains. The per capita availability of foodgrains, pulses, edible oils coupled with their high prices is jeopardizing the food security of our people. The low-figure of per capita availability hides the gross inequality in the actual consumption of food. The poor have far less access to food than better off, and are thus condemned to chronic malnutrition, hunger and occasional starvation deaths. Externally the developed countries with their high consumption pattern absorb a much larger share of available food. While internally the top 10% also absorb more than the average owing to their growing demand for animal product. Fifty per cent of the world's hungry live in India. Within the country estimates have varied as to who are the poor and how many are below the poverty line.
6.21 The demand for the Right to Food, for ensuring 'Food for All' has therefore been central to the struggle against poverty. The paradox of the situation is that a large section of the food producers themselves, viz; the agri-labour and the marginal farmers are among the most vulnerable in the matter of food. To ensure the common people's access to food it is essential to fight against price rise and inflation in food items and also to fight for sufficient and easy availability of food. This is only possible in our specific conditions through a highly subsidized Universal Public Distribution System (PDS).
6.22 The entry of corporate entities including multinational companies like Reliance, Cargill and others into the food market has aggravated the problem on both counts, price as well as availability. The bourgeoisie has paved the way by allowing forward trading in food-grains and making the Essential Commodities Act totally ineffective This has opened the door to hoarding, speculative rise in food prices and deliberate disruption in supply.
6.23 The bourgeois government's approach to food security is to have a targeted Public Distribution System in place of universal PDS. It seeks to justify this by displaying special concern for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and certain vulnerable categories. It has arbitrarily divided the population into 3 or 4 categories, and capped the coverage in the rural and urban areas in an arbitrary manner. The amount of foodgrains to be supplied per month as well as the prices varies with each category. A huge number of households, about 40 to 50 per cent of the population are thus excluded from the purview of this Food Security Law. The entire approach of the bourgeois government is to minimize its own obligations by restricting the number of eligible house-holds, as well as their entitlements to subsidized food.
6.24 A system of cash transfer instead of providing subsidized food items, actually means making a mockery of the Public Distribution System. Since cash transfers can lead to gross misuse and even resulting in raising prices if the distribution of subsidized food is discontinued, it has to be firmly opposed. The issues of state procurement stocking of foodgrains through a decentralized system, of ensuring that the quality of the stocks is preserved, its proper distribution and a social audit of the entire mechanism has to be addressed. Chain of cold storage for vegetables and other perishable items has to be built. The Party has to fight for a pro people Food Security Law.
6.1 Bitter and many times violent struggles by farmers resisting the forcible acquisition of land by the state and the corporate entities with the active help of the state have been taking place in many parts of the country. We have seen standoffs between the state power and the peasantry in NaiDA and other districts in UP, long drawn out anti posco struggle in Jagatsingpur. (Orissa), movement against the nuclear plant in Jaitapur (Maharashtra) and so forth. Many lives have been lost in the course of these struggles.
In trying to grab the farmers' land, the bourgeois government has used the Land Acquisition Act of colonial era and justified indiscriminate use of force against peasantry by insisting that it is a necessary step for development. In the process, severallakh acres of land have been acquired and millions of peasants and other dependent on land have been evicted and deprived of their livelihood. This is a crude and brutal offensive of the bourgeois state led by the corporate houses and big business.
6.2 The development of capitalism in Indian agriculture is based on a compromise with feudal remnants on the one-hand, and collusion with foreign capital on the other. While semi-feudal production relations still dominate many parts in rural India, the door has been opened for the multinational corporations to enter the field and assume cardinal positions in certain areas. IMF, World Bank and the WTO have played an active role in this respect. The government has signed Indo-US Agricultural Initiative where representatives of Monsanto, Cargill and other multinational companies participate in joint committees to take important decisions on research and new initiatives in Indian Agriculture.
6.3 It is important to see the tremendous changes which have taken place in the agrarian sector since independence. These changes have been speeded up under neo-liberalism i.e. in the last three decades.
Before Independence two popular slogans of peasant movement were, "Abolish the Zamindary System" and "Land to the Tillers". The formation of the All India Kisan Sabha in 1936 added militancy and urgency to these slogans, underlined the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist character of the movement and made it an integral part of national liberation struggle. With Congress party coming to power, land reform legislations putting an end to the Zamindary, Jagirdary and all forms of intermediaries were enacted in all the state assemblies. The occupancy tenants got direct control over land that they tilled. The rulers of princely states and the feudal landlords had constituted the crucial social and political base of colonial power. It was, therefore, expected that in independent India no place will be given to them in political and economic spheres. This did not happen. Congress party continued its alliance with the landlords as well as the dislodged rulers of princely states. The peasants paid Rs. 600 crores to the erstwhile Zamindars for getting control over their land. The landlords were also, given an opportunity to become 'capitalist (farmer) landlords and evict thousands of ''tenants-at-will'' in the name of resuming self-cultivation. The capitalist landlords and the new stratum of rich peasants formed the political base of the new ruling class in countryside.
6.4 Along with abolition of intermediaries the land reform legislations also included provisions for imposing ceiling on land holdings and protecting tenant farmers from exploitative land leasing practices. But the implementation record of land redistribution and tenancy reforms has been very poor in every state except west Bengal, Kerala and Jammu Kashmir.
After the state governments had enacted first round of ceiling laws, the Mahalanobis Committee estimated that there was 63 million acres of ceiling surplus land in the country. In 2004 the Union Govt. informed Parliament that the land declared surplus in the country was 7.3 million acres, land acquired by state governments was 6.5 million acres and the land actually distributed was only 5.3 million acres (most of this was done in the states of West Bengal and Kerala). The marginal and small holdings are 62% of the total holdings, but the area cultivated by them is only 19%.
6.5 The expectation of landless peasantry was belied and in 60s and 70s land struggles took place in many parts. The Communist Party of India headed by C. Rajeshwar Rao carried out several militant land struggles for breaking up large estates under the occupation of big landlords. Several thousand acres of land was captured and distributed among landless peasants and agricultural labour. In many cases the farmers or their children are still cultivating the land, which they had taken possession of in 60s and 70s. They cultivate the land although legal entitlement has been given to only a few households.
6.6 The Naxalbari Movement also rose in 1967 calling for land redistribution. Although it did not come up on the centre stage, it played an important role in persuading West Bengal government to redistribute surplus land and carry out meaningful tenancy reforms. The impetus land struggle in 60s and 70s petered out with time.
6.7 The Green Revolution was introduced in mid-sixties in the northern states. The government invested a great deal of resources in HYV programme. The necessary physical andmarket infrastructure was provided on subsidised rates to the well endowed farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western U.P. Productivity increased manifold and the class of resource-rich capitalist farmer was consolidated. At the same time a large number of small and marginal farmers moved out of agriculture in these states. The Green Revolution increased disparities both between regions and within regions. It needs to be noted that notwithstanding the emergence of a powerful capitalist farmers lobby, the semi-feudal production relations survived the entire period of the green revolution prosperity.
6.8 The Structural Adjustment Programme, which heralded the offensive of liberalization, privatization and globalization, brought with it a new crisis in rural livelihoods. The inclusion of agriculture in the Urguay Round of negotiations and the so-called Free Trade Agreements with some countries under the new regime of WTO have adversely affected our agriculture. All restrictions on external and internal trade of agricultural commodities were removed and the agrarian sector was exposed to unfair and unequal intemational competition. The domestic and foreign multinational companies rapidly made deep inroads in input and output markets. The supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides is now largely control led by MNCs The recent mode of attack on Indian peasantry is through forcibly providing genetically modified seeds by the seed MNC's in collaboration with government. This is creating havoc and instability in agricultural production. The government intends to pass a 'Seed Bill' which will give a legal basis to this attack on agriculture.
6.9 Starting from year 2000, a new offensive was launched on the farm sector by corporate and industrial units, building and land mafia, real estate developers and the government in the name of SEZ and other developmental projects. The state governments invoked antiquated Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to evict peasants from their land and handover the land to private companies. Under the neo-liberal frame, the state governments reversed the clock of land reform. The corporate sector has been allotted vast tracts of forest land and the so called waste land. It has also got indirect control over farm land through the provision of contract farming.
Apart from forcible land grab and introduction of contract farming by corporate houses, the farmers are also subjected to an iniquitous credit system. Nationalised banks giving loans for agriculture and small industries as a priority sector are neglecting this task. Once again the peasants are being thrown to the tender mercies of the money lenders or so-called 'loan providers'. It is estimated that while the banking system as a whole financed 35.6% of the loans, private money lenders accounted for 25.7% of the loans advanced to farmers. A much trumpeted 'loan waiver' gave relief only to a small section of the peasantry just on the eve of the 2009 general election. This provides no solution to the credit needs of agriculture, which requires an easy access to credit at no more than four percent rate of interest.
6.10 As to irrigation, only around 41 % of net sown area is irrigated during Kharif and 65% during Rabi seasons. Availability of water varies across the states. Public investment in irrigation is negligible. The transition from surface water to ground water actually implies the privatization of irrigation infrastructure. The ownership of ground water assets naturally belongs to rich peasants and affluent landowners.
A corollary has been the emergence of internal ground water markets and pump-rental markets. To secure access to ground water the rest of the peasantry including the small and marginal farmers have to pay a heavy amount as rental for this facility.
6.11 Following the repeated hikes in the prices of fuel, so essential to the farmers, there are moves to increase the prices of fertilizers too. Market forces unleashed by a government wedded to neo-liberalism are squeezing the farmers dry. The neo liberal policy frame affected all sections of the peasantry adversely.
The big farmer' lobby took an ambiguous stance towards the new regime. Initially, they perceived trade liberalisation and entry of agribusiness as programmes advantageous to them. However, the deflationary trend in world market prices in latter half of 90s and unequal bargaining power vis-a-vis the corporate lobby made them uncomfortable. The big farmer lobby now opposes free trade and demands protection of its economic space through state intervention.
The medium and small farmers generally follow the lead provided by the big farmers in switching over to new technology, new cropping pattern and new production arrangements. Sometimes they do it willingly in the hope that the returns will be high. More often it is done under compulsion because earlier infrastructure has been dismantled. In 1980s and 90s the medium and semi-medium farmers shifted to new cropping pattern and new technology. This shift required increased resources and entailed greater risk. The consequent indebtedness and the spate of farmers suicides has become a matter of great concern.
6.12 As for the small and marginal farmers, they have increasingly got dispossessed of their land and other resource base. In 2004-05, around 43 per cent of rural households had no land to cultivate. In addition, 22 per cent households cultivated less than 1 acre of land, which is insufficient to meet basic needs. The dispossessed marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers rarely commit suicides. Instead, the men migrate out in search of jobs, leaving behind the non-viable pieces of land for the women to cultivate. The number of male cultivators declined by 4.24 million between 1991 and 2001, while the number of women cultivators increased by 5.71 million during the same period.
6.13 The beginning of the 21 st century has been greeted by a pervasive and intractable agrarian crisis in Indian economy. More than two lakh farmers have committed suicides. The number increases every day. Agricultural growth has stagnated. The share of agriculture in National income has come down to 12%, whereas its share in workforce still remains as high as 58 percent. The cumulative effect of neo-liberal measures is that the goal of real food security i.e. "Food for All" is receding howsoever much the government claims to legislate a Food Security Act. Per capita food grain availability in the country has declined in past decade. A big country like ours with a huge population has to defend its food sovereignty. It cannot afford to depend on food imports to feed its people. Food export is a political weapon of imperialist countries and the major food exporting countries like US extract a heavy price.
6.14 With the intensification of the agrarian crisis, features like usury, bondage and caste violence have resurfaced aggressively. Absentee landlords continue to exist extensively in Bihar and in some other parts, especially in the Hindi belt. The Bihar Land Reform Commission constituted in 2006 prepared a list of big landlords clandestinely holding thousands of acres of land and running a shadow Zamindary system. Hathua Raj in Gopalgunge, Bettiah Raj and Sikarpure Estate in Bettiah, Kausalaraj in Katihar are a few such names. They are in addition to the religious trusts and maths who hold thousands of acres of land.
Due to the crisis in agriculture, uncertainty caused by floods and droughts in certain regions, the growing burden of indebtedness and the lack of employment there is large-scale migration from the rural to the urban centers in search of work and better opportunities of livelihood. This has led to rapid increase in urbanization and certain cities have expanded into huge mega cities with slums, inadequate infrastructure and rise in general social problems.
6.15 Arable land is shrinking. With the real estate boom, the land market has become very active in rural India. It is calculated that between 1992-93 and 2002-03, as much as 18 million hectares of arable land has got transferred to non agricultural uses. Beside forcible acquisition and consequent eviction of peasantry by the state, a great deal of land has also slipped out of agriculture through the operation of local land markets. The markets have created a huge demand for non-agricultural use of land on the one hand, and have made farm operations non-viable for a large section of peasantry on the other. During the decade between 1991 and 2001, over 7 million people i.e. nearly 2000 people a day, for whom cultivation was the main source of livelihood; quit farming. That underlines the depth of the crisis in agriculture. Where do they go? They migrate to the cities in search of work, often wandering from one place to another. This is the route of rapid urbanization which is taking place in the country, and the source of the exploited mass of unorganized contract and casual labour. They swell the ranks of the reserve army of the unemployed.
Forcible acquisition and eviction have provoked violent struggles in different parts of the country in the last few years. A section of the peasantry, especially the well-off section is willing to part with some land by demanding an 'appropriate price' for their land. At the same time the tribals who are the most hit by forcible acquisition and eviction, as well as a section of small peasantry are unwilling to part with their land altogether. They reflect the different positions of the different layers within the peasantry. The small and marginal peasant clings on to his miserable plot of land as the only source of livelihood and his place in rural society, even though it is not sufficient to meet his basic needs.
6.16 While tribals constitute 8.08% of the entire population, there are 40% of tribals among the displaced and affected persons. Official figures claim that 28% of the displaced tribals have been rehabilitated. What has happened to the remaining 72% who number nearly 1.5 crores? They are truly the victims of such 'development'. Agriculture in India is being drawn into the world commodity market, subjecting land, water, resources and other agricultural inputs and outputs to inexorable market forces. This signals the growth and development of capitalism and capitalist relations of production in agriculture. The growth of capitalism in agriculture is sharpening all the social contradictions. Superimposed on the ruins of earlier modes, it accounts for the specific nature of the crisis in agriculture, the widening disparities and the misery of the lower strata of the working peasantry. A most heart breaking suspect of the crisis is the suicide of more than two and a half lakh kisans in 8 years.
Though capitalist development has proceeded apace there is a mixture and co-existence of several earlier social formations - feudal, semi-feudal, tribal scattered across a vast territory of the country.
6.17 Land, water, jobs, food have become the focus of the ongoing and impending struggles and peoples' movement. The land problem cannot be resolved without severe class struggle in the countryside. Some of the important issues raised by these struggles can be enumerated. Land is the key issue in this struggle for carrying forward the new democratic revolution. Demands that have to be fought for are:
i) Abolition of feudal and semi-feudal remnants, for the strict implementation of ceiling and tenancy laws and also for the cancellation of all benami transactions of land.
ii) Repeal of the colonial era Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Its replacement by a new law which is pro-farmer and provides for rehabilitation and resettlement in case any agricultural land is diverted for non-agricultural use. Fertile multi-crop land to be exempted from any such acquisition, whether for public, private or public-private partnership projects.
iii) SEZ is neither inevitable nor necessary for industrialization. A halt to further inroads of SEZs. Land already acquired in excess should be returned to the farmers.
iv) All moves to repeal the ceiling laws on rural (and urban) land to facilitate the drive of business houses and the builder and land mafias to acquire land for speculative gains should be banned.
v) Oppose all attempts of introducing corporate and contract farming. Opposition to opening up of the agricultural sector to the entry of multi-national corporations and to the free market forces as suggested by the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO regime.
vi) Provide easy access to institutional loans at 4% rate of interest. Small and marginal farmers to be given protection and preferential treatment in such matters as credit, supply of plants, seed, fertilizers, access to markets etc. so as to make farming productive, efficient and viable.
vii) Remunerative prices for agricultural produce and for maintaining parity in terms of trade between industry and agriculture, and against loot by monopolies and multinationals. Agriculture to be made profitable, a paying and respectable profession. Capital accumulation should be through surplus earnlnqs not through intensified exploitation of farmers.
viii) Giving emphasis to the growth of dry land agriculture. Massive public investment for the growth of infrastructure facilities like irrigation, rural electrification, market development, network of village roads. Proper implementation of NAREGA, with social audit.
ix) Ensuring flood control and prevention of water logging. Large scale tree plantation to maintain the ecological balance.
x) Agriculture should be diversified and agricultural income increased by encouraging supplementary occupations like dairy and poultry farming, sheep rearing, horticulture and fisheries, echo-culture and sericulture, social forestry etc.
xi) Encourage small scale, tiny and cottage industries especially agro-industries so as to draw a significant part of the work force dependent on agriculture into the non-agricultural sector.
xii) All anti-poverty and rural development programmes as well as employment generation programmes should be integrated with agriculture development through the Panchayat-raj institutions. Leakage of these funds should be arrested through social audits involving the panchayats. MNREGA work should be used mainly for building assets for agricultural growth.
xiii) Steps be taken to develop better indigenous bio-technical and genetic engineering. India being the country with the largest livestock, emphasis should be given on organic farming.
xiv) Struggle against price rise, and for a food security act based on a universal public distribution system, which will ensure food for all.
6.18 The struggles undertaken by peasantry and other marginalised sections of society have a sharp anti-capitalist character, in particular against the domestic and foreign corporate entities. The collective political struggles of the marginalised peasantry can be further strengthened by persuading the resource poor peasants to form a collective economic base.
6.19 The next step forward is to see that farmers, in particular small and marginal farmers are encouraged to form cooperatives strictly on a voluntary basis in different spheres of agricultural operation and economic life. Such cooperatives will demand help and facilities from the state for their effective functioning. Cooperatives are not just economic units. They have a political, social and cultural role to play in bringing about systemic changes.
India's foreign policy is thus subject to many complex and contradictory factors. The task of the progressive and democratic movement in the country is to ensure that India's foreign policy retains its independent and anti-imperialist character and stands in solidarity with all countries fighting for independence, democracy, social progress and socialism.
The Issue of Food Security:
6.20 Despite the vast agricultural potential of India, agriculture is in a state of crisis. In particular the production of certain items which are the main source of nutrition for the common people are declining. India is today a net importer of foodgrains. The per capita availability of foodgrains, pulses, edible oils coupled with their high prices is jeopardizing the food security of our people. The low-figure of per capita availability hides the gross inequality in the actual consumption of food. The poor have far less access to food than better off, and are thus condemned to chronic malnutrition, hunger and occasional starvation deaths. Externally the developed countries with their high consumption pattern absorb a much larger share of available food. While internally the top 10% also absorb more than the average owing to their growing demand for animal product. Fifty per cent of the world's hungry live in India. Within the country estimates have varied as to who are the poor and how many are below the poverty line.
6.21 The demand for the Right to Food, for ensuring 'Food for All' has therefore been central to the struggle against poverty. The paradox of the situation is that a large section of the food producers themselves, viz; the agri-labour and the marginal farmers are among the most vulnerable in the matter of food. To ensure the common people's access to food it is essential to fight against price rise and inflation in food items and also to fight for sufficient and easy availability of food. This is only possible in our specific conditions through a highly subsidized Universal Public Distribution System (PDS).
6.22 The entry of corporate entities including multinational companies like Reliance, Cargill and others into the food market has aggravated the problem on both counts, price as well as availability. The bourgeoisie has paved the way by allowing forward trading in food-grains and making the Essential Commodities Act totally ineffective This has opened the door to hoarding, speculative rise in food prices and deliberate disruption in supply.
6.23 The bourgeois government's approach to food security is to have a targeted Public Distribution System in place of universal PDS. It seeks to justify this by displaying special concern for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and certain vulnerable categories. It has arbitrarily divided the population into 3 or 4 categories, and capped the coverage in the rural and urban areas in an arbitrary manner. The amount of foodgrains to be supplied per month as well as the prices varies with each category. A huge number of households, about 40 to 50 per cent of the population are thus excluded from the purview of this Food Security Law. The entire approach of the bourgeois government is to minimize its own obligations by restricting the number of eligible house-holds, as well as their entitlements to subsidized food.
6.24 A system of cash transfer instead of providing subsidized food items, actually means making a mockery of the Public Distribution System. Since cash transfers can lead to gross misuse and even resulting in raising prices if the distribution of subsidized food is discontinued, it has to be firmly opposed. The issues of state procurement stocking of foodgrains through a decentralized system, of ensuring that the quality of the stocks is preserved, its proper distribution and a social audit of the entire mechanism has to be addressed. Chain of cold storage for vegetables and other perishable items has to be built. The Party has to fight for a pro people Food Security Law.
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