"Cannot treat farmers like criminals": economist Madhura Swaminathan

The "farmers are annadatas" and "they can not be treated like criminals", said Madhura Swaminathan, a developmental economist and daughter of renowned agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, whose recommendations have been a key element in the conversation around the ongoing farmers' agitation.

At an event organised by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, to celebrate the posthumous Bharat Ratna conferred on her father, Madhura Swaminathan highlighted the need for policy makers to speak to the farmers and get their buy-in for strategies being put forth for discussion or action.

“The farmers of Punjab today are marching to Delhi," the economist said. "I believe, according to the newspaper reports, there are jails being prepared for them in Haryana, there are barricades, there are all kinds of things being done to prevent them. These are farmers; they are not criminals!”

The farmers' demands, as recounted by Madhura Swaminathan, include:

• legal assurance of minimum support prices (MSP)

• implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations

• pension for farmers and agricultural labourers

• debt waivers

• resolution of police cases filed against them for the 2020–21 farm law protests

• and justice for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

As the head of the Economic Analysis Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Bengaluru, Madhura Swaminathan called upon scientists to collaborate with farmers and honour her father's legacy by addressing the challenges faced by the agricultural community.

She urged those present in her audience to engage with the farmers and find solutions rather than treating them as lawbreakers: "I request all of you, the leading scientists of India, we have to talk to our annadatas (food producers); we cannot treat them as criminals. We have to find solutions. This is my request."

"I think if we have to continue and honour M.S. Swaminathan, we have to take the farmers with us in whatever strategy we’re planning for the future," she added.

She went on to share a statement from M.S. Swaminathan dated November 2021, expressing happiness over the government's decision to repeal the contentious farm laws.

In the statement, M.S. Swaminathan had emphasised the importance of the (C2 + 50 per cent) formula in the National Commission on Farmers' reports and had stressed the need for concurrent attention on production, procurement and prices for the future of Indian agriculture.

The event also featured M.S. Swaminathan's other daughter, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, who shared insights into their father's contributions to agriculture and the importance of a pro-poor, pro-women and pro-nature approach in farming policies.