Maha: Cotton and Soyabean Farmers’ State Convention
Ajit Nawale, Rohidas Jadhav
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THE AIKS Maharashtra state committee organised cotton and soyabean farmers' state convention at Majalgaon in Beed district, in the Marathwada region on March 7, 2024. Over 1,000 farmers from various districts took part.
The main objective of this convention was to draw attention to the plunging prices of cotton and soyabean, the two main crops in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, regions which unfortunately lead the state and the country in the number of suicides of debt-ridden peasants. An equally important objective was to counter the RSS-BJP narrative of dividing the people on the lines of religion and caste, through a counter-narrative that focuses on their real issues and the reasons for them.
INAUGURAL SESSION
The convention was inaugurated by Dr Madhura Swaminathan, professor and head, economic analysis unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore. She is also the daughter of Bharat Ratna Dr M S Swaminathan. She placed a well-argued case for a legal guarantee of a remunerative MSP not only for cotton and soyabean, but for all major crops.
She said, “Since the entire society is dependent on farmers for its food, the income of those farmers must increase. That can only be achieved on the basis of getting a legal guarantee of a minimum support price (MSP) which is at least one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production. The MRP of all industrial produce is based on the entire cost of production, marketing cost, advertisement cost, and so on. But this never happens in the case of agricultural produce. On the contrary, although the cost of production in agriculture constantly increases, the price of agricultural produce never increases in the same proportion. Whatever MSP the government declares, most of the farmers in India do not get it, they have to sell their produce at much lesser prices. In several countries farmers are given 70 to 80 per cent subsidy to cover their production costs. But this does not happen in our country. For all these reasons the situation of the peasantry in India is grim.”
“In the year 2000, the Vajpayee government had appointed a high-powered committee on MSP which was chaired by Prof Abhijit Sen. I was a member of that committee. We had then made the recommendation that MSP must be given legal status. It is a welcome development that today farmers are leading massive struggles for this just demand.” She then dealt with other factors which must also be effectively dealt with to improve the situation of the peasantry, like research and development, new and improved seeds, technology, godowns, cheap credit, greater public investment in agriculture, irrigation and infrastructure, and so on.
The convention was presided over by AIKS state president Umesh Deshmukh. AIKS district president Ajay Burande gave the introduction. The AIKS in Beed district has recently led impressive struggles on burning issues of the peasantry like crop insurance, drought relief, and remunerative prices. APMC Majalgaon director Datta Dake made the welcome address. AIKS district secretary Murlidhar Nagargoje conducted the proceedings. AIKS state vice president Kisan Gujar placed the condolence resolution.
MAIN RESOLUTION
AIKS state general secretary Ajit Nawale placed the main resolution which demanded Rs 12,000 per quintal for cotton, Rs 8,000 per quintal for soyabean, and a legal guarantee for MSP for all crops as per the Swaminathan Commission formula of C2 + 50 per cent. He also placed the rationale behind these demands. The state government had recommended an MSP of Rs 6,776 for soyabean, but the centre declared an MSP of only Rs 4,600, the difference between the two being Rs 2.176 per quintal. Similarly, the state government had recommended an MSP of Rs 8,968 for cotton, but the centre declared an MSP of only Rs 6,620, the difference between the two being Rs 2,348 per quintal. The recommendations of the state government itself were not remunerative. Hence the demand was also made for the central government making up the difference through the ‘Bhavantar’ scheme.
Finally Ajit Nawale called for an intensive campaign in all villages concentrating on these demands and targeting the BJP-led central and state governments who are refusing to concede them. He stressed that peasants must not pay heed to appeals on the basis of religion and caste, and must rally to defeat the Modi regime.
AIKS state office bearers from different regions – Uday Narkar, Yashwant Zade, Sunil Malusare, Arjun Adey, Uddhav Poul, Shankar Sidam, and Chandrakant Ghorkhana – seconded the resolution, after which it was unanimously adopted.
In the concluding speech of the convention, AIKS national president Ashok Dhawale placed the MSP, loan waiver, crop insurance, pension, and other burning peasant issues in the national perspective of the ongoing SKM-CTU-led nationwide struggle. “The BJP government which hypocritically gave the Bharat Ratna award to Dr M S Swaminathan, has not implemented even a single recommendation of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) that was chaired by Dr Swaminathan. In the last 10 years of the BJP central rule, it has denied remunerative price not only to soyabean and cotton, but also to other crops like sugarcane, paddy, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, and milk.
“In spite of over one lakh farmers and agricultural workers committing suicide in the country due to debt in the last 10 years of its rule, the BJP regime has not given any of them even one rupee as loan waiver; on the other hand, it has written off loans worth over Rs 15 lakh crore to a handful of its crony corporates. This is the same BJP government which, for the first time in history, recently flung tear gas shells on farmers from drones, and killed two farmers at the Punjab-Haryana border. It is the same BJP party which just gave the ticket to contest the parliamentary elections to the butcher of Lakhimpur Kheri, union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, and retained him in the cabinet in spite of him mowing down four farmers and a journalist under his cars.
Ashok Dhawale called for an intensive campaign to defeat the anti-peasant, anti-people and pro-corporate, communal and authoritarian RSS-BJP regime in the coming crucial general elections. He also called for greatly strengthening the AIKS, which was the organisation of two towering members of parliament who were elected from Beed district in 1967 and 1977 respectively – former AIKS national president Krantisinh Nana Patil, and former AIKS state president Gangadhar Appa Burande.
Hundreds of activists of the AIKS, CITU, AIAWU, SFI, DYFI, and AIDWA from Beed district worked untiringly for three weeks to ensure the success of this convention by means of leaflets, posters, social media, and a fund campaign amongst the people. Their sterling work was acknowledged by senior leader P S Ghadge, who placed the vote of thanks.
An AIKS Maharashtra state committee meeting was held immediately after the convention, which took some important decisions as regards both movement and organisation.
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