Agriculture Sector and Farmers ruined by Modi Government in India

Rahul Kumar

India`s agriculture sector is under deep threat. Farmers are observed protesting almost in every state of the country struggling for their genuine demands of Minimum Support Price (MSP).  The farmers are being compelled to sell almost all their produce at prices much below MSP and the Modi Government is a mute spectator. The poor farmers are committing suicide. On the other hand, the rich, affluent, big farmers are getting richer day by day since they enjoy good rapport with the corrupt politicians of the country who support them to get Bank loans which later on siphoned off by them.

Under the NITI AAYOG, the policies so far formulated by the bootlicker economists are anti-farmers. The people who are in the Advisory Board of the NITI AAYOG are simply carrier-oriented and mostly work for their own socio-economic upliftment. Modi, of course, is playing in their hands and is unable to understand who is doing what and why. Writing a letter to Ex-RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who was insulted and humiliated by Bhartiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy by alleging that ‘he is mentally not fully Indian’ and has “willfully” wrecked the economy’.  It is the same Subramanian Swamy who shot a letter to Prime Minister Modi to sack Rajan.  Shame on the BJP government when the same Ex RBI Governor was invited to advise on the economic policies of the country.

Agri-Food Production Data – Production in Stages in Million Tones/L. Bales

Name of Crop	HD Deve Gowda 1996-97	AB Vajpayee 2003-04	Dr. Manmohan Singh 2013-14	Narendra Modi 2015-16
Food-Grains	199.34	213.19	265.04	252.22
Rice	81.73	88.53	106.65	104.32
Wheat	69.35	72.16	95.85	93.50
C. Cereals	34.11	37.60	43.29	37.94
Pulses	14.15	14.91	19.25	16.47
Nine Oilseeds	24.38	25.19	32.75	25.30
Cotton	14.23	13.73	35.90	30.15
Sugarcane	277.56	233.86	352.14	352.16
Milk	69.1	88.1	137.7	155.5
Egg	27.5b	40.4b	74.8b	82.9b
Fish	5.348	6.399	9.572	10.796
Net Irrigation	55.11 mhac	57.06 mhac	68.10 mhac	NA
Gross Irrigation	76.03 mhac	78.04 mhac	95.77 mhac	NA
FERTILIZER	14.308	16.799	28.122*	26.752
ELECTRICITY	84.019 BU	87.089 BU	152.744 BU	168.913
TRACTORS	NA	248,000**	697,000	571,000
TILLERS	NA	17,000	56,000	49,000

*in FY2011 **2004-05 Figure

Source: Agriculture Statistics at a Glance 2016, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, available at https://eands.dacnet.nic.in/PDF/Glance-2016.pdf.

The report released by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India reflects a true picture of agriculture sectors of the country. In today` time, Modi government seems rudderless, directionless, and meaningless. Modi government cannot befool the farmers of India for a long time. Modi government after seeing this data released by his own government cannot say that opposition is misguiding the people. This venal narrative on the part of the Modi government will not work in 2019 elections. The people of India are fed with the empty rhetorics.

India under Modi stands nowhere in the global economy. China under seventh president Xi Jinping has already currency reserves surging toward an unprecedented $ 4 trillion. Many financial forecasts now project that China will surpass the U.S. as the world`s number one economy by 2030. Responding to media, Xi Jinping asserts that China has lifted 60 million of its own people out of poverty in just a few years and is committed to its complete eradication by 2020.  So far neither Modi government could uplift the people belonging to the marginalized sections of the society from poverty nor he seems to be ambitious to do so. It is unfortunate to observe that common men and women are financially overburdened with ever rising oil prices, essential commodities etc.

On the international front, the Modi Government could not generate India`s goodwill to enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to flow to India as expected.  As a matter of fact, Modi has weaved a web of personal ties with autocratic leaders like Donald Trump, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia whose vision that “put first my country. Every world leader is worried about his own country since the economic situation is volatile in the superpowers such as the USA, China, Britain, Canada. FDI data suggest that despite several round trips by Modi to many superpowers of the world, the amount of foreign investment as desired by his government could not be attracted since the leaders of the superpowers are embroiled in their own social, political and economic problems. For example, Donald Trump is facing impeachment. Germany and Britain are facing the flood of illegal migrants. China is struggling with the IMF loans.

The politically tensed atmosphere in the country also prevented the leaders of the world economies not to choose India as a viable investment. A professor of Finance rightly said that ‘ a politician who understands economics can be the best Prime Minister of India. Modi does not fit into this class. Modi is simply a politician without knowledge of economics. Modi is unable to understand the cascading effects of his policies. In comparison, Dr. Manmohan Singh, an economist knew better than Modi. We must not allow Modi to spoil the Indian economy further. The sooner Modi is removed the better would be for the economic health of the country.