THE 23rd Party Congress of the CPI(M) expresses grave concern at the deepening agrarian crisis in India, seriously aggravated by the neoliberal policies initiated in 1991 by the Congress-led union government in 1991, and taken forward since, by all subsequent central governments and by most state governments except those led by the Left. The current BJP-RSS regime led by Modi as prime minister has deepened the crisis with its ultra-neoliberal policies targeting all sections of peasants, agricultural workers and the working class.

The 23rd Party Congress hails the historic year-long farmers’ struggle in India, led by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) which ended in a victory, when the Modi regime was forced to repeal the three anti-farmer, anti-people and pro-corporate farm laws in November 2021.

According to official data, over four lakh farmers in India have committed suicide because of indebtedness in the 25 years from 1995 to 2020. While suicides constitute the most tragic manifestation of the agrarian crisis, the fact that a significant proportion of peasants engaged in crop cultivation do not obtain positive net income from it, shows the crisis in the reproduction of capital in the agrarian economy.

This Party Congress fully supports the demand of the farmers’ struggle for a law to guarantee MSP and procurement of agricultural produce at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2+50 per cent), as recommended by the National Commission on Farmers, headed by Dr M S Swaminathan, and as promised by the BJP’s election manifesto of 2014.

In most parts of our country, the MSP declared by the central government for 23 different ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ season crops has no meaning, simply because there is no government procurement in most of the states. Hence traders routinely buy agricultural produce from farmers at much less rates than the MSP. Even in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, government procurement is restricted mainly to only paddy and wheat.

With successive union governments implementing neoliberal policies of cutting energy and fertiliser subsidies while promoting the dominance of corporate monopolies in all input and product markets, costs of production of all crops have risen phenomenally. With most crops not being procured at reasonable prices, this has led to a severe debt crisis for the peasantry as a whole, and especially for the poor and middle peasants. Changes in credit policies, and the reversal of social and development banking have made formal credit inaccessible to substantial sections of cultivators, forcing them to borrow at usurious rates of interest from informal money lenders. All other aspects of agrarian policy, including trade liberalisation, Free Trade Agreements, the anti-farmer and pro-corporate Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), and failure of protection against climate change have added to the woes of the peasantry. It is in such a context that the peasantry is demanding both the legislation on MSP and a loan waiver.

But the BJP led union government has dismissed the demand for a farm loan waiver, violating its own electoral promise in this regard in the 2014 elections. The same regime, however, has no compunctions in writing off bank loans to the tune of Rs 10.72 lakh crore to its handful of favourite crony corporates over the last seven years. This is in addition to the astronomical tax concessions given by this government every year to the corporate lobby.

• The 23rd Party Congress of the CPI(M) demands that the union government adopt laws to ensure a legal guarantee that ensures MSP at C2+50 per cent and procurement of crops of all farmers in the country. In this connection, the 23rd Party Congress hails the LDF government of Kerala, which purchases paddy at around Rs 2850 per quintal, more than Rs 900 higher than the union government’s MSP.
• The 23rd Congress demands a one-time waiver by the union government of all loans of farmers and agricultural workers in India.
• The 23rd Congress extends all support and solidarity to the ongoing struggle of the SKM on these demands.
• The 23rd Congress demands abandonment of the neoliberal agrarian policy regime. It demands the implementation of agrarian policies in the interests of the mass of the peasantry and agricultural workers, including comprehensive land reforms that will ensure land for the rural poor and put an end to landlordism and caste and gender oppression.