Modi government remains silent on deteriorating farmers condition 

There are reasons other than farming as well which are responsible for the growing disenchantment and discontentment among farmers of India. In the last four and half years the anger has grown further. This can be best exemplified by the fact that––as per the National Crime Record Bureau figure––in the first three years of the Narendra Modi government the number of farmers who committed suicide had jumped by 42%.

It is not that farmers had not been committing suicide in the pre-2014 years. But what has gone so wrong in these 55 months?

Though there is no such data available there is no denying the fact that there is fast decline in the job market in the last four-five years. This has compelled a large number of job-seeking youths to return to their villages and get ‘engaged’ in some sort of farming or related works. They do this although their parents do not want them to undertake farming as a profession.

This reverse trend is taking a huge toll. Not surprisingly a sizeable number of them who are falling back on farming are engineers who should have otherwise gone to either manufacturing or service sector. Some of them even took part in the latest farmer’s’ rally in Delhi or even earlier in Mumbai and elsewhere. As these rural youths got educated in the urban centres and had developed some sorts of contacts the farmer’s agitations now get sympathy from the city-dwellers too.

Earlier, the urban people used to be indifferent towards them and some of them would even blame them for throwing life out of gear in cities.

Thus, there is not just a big increase in the number of unemployed but also disguised unemployed in the country.

It is not only that farmer’s income from farming and non-farming activities has declined, even the landless agricultural labourers are suffering because of some recent developments. The gradual mechanization of farming had rendered many of them unemployed in villages. So, they slowly started moving towards the urban jobs. But in the recent years, more so after demonetization and shoddy implementation of GST, many of them have been thrown out of jobs.

The non-farming income of farmers has declined in yet another way.

In food grains business sector traditional trading communities might still have been engaged in the purchase of crops. But in horticulture, dairy, animal husbandry etc. sectors many from the farming communities have shifted to become traders or middlemen.

As most of the cash crops have no minimum support price the producers face huge loss when there is overproduction or glut in the market. That is why, when prices crash, we often hear the news of farmers throwing tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, even milk etc. They even burn standing sugarcane crop. So not only the producing farmers but their brothers engaged in this related business also suffer. In such a situation they earn nothing. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is increasing now.

As if this much is not enough: the huge rise in the stray cattle in the last couple of years has started wreaking havoc. Till a few years back various states had been facing the menace caused by ‘neelgai’ (blue bulls). For example, in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar they destroyed ‘arhar’ crop in large number. Now other cattle are also destroying their standing crops. As the farmers engaged in cattle trade are fearful, they are not selling their animal and the government seems to be helpless. This has further hit their income.

Thus, the farmers are taking to the streets more frequently now than ever before as they are now unable to make up the loss in agriculture sector from the non-farming income.

The BJP government has not only let the farmers down by overlooking their genuine demands but has also significantly reduced their income from non-farming sectors.