Modi Govt Policies Harming Farmers: AIKS
THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), in a statement issued on August 12, has strongly rejected the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “the welfare of farmers is the highest priority” for his government. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The statement, made in the context of US tariffs being raised to 50 per cent and arm-twisting for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), is merely an attempt to curry favour with farmers. Indian farmers will not be deceived by such claims, as they have repeatedly witnessed similar jumlas and false promises over the last 11 years.
In reality, the NDA government has systematically undermined the competitiveness of farmers during its 11-year rule. The PM has failed to fulfill the promise made in the BJP’s 2014 election manifesto of ensuring a Minimum Support Price (MSP) at C2+50 per cent for all crops, with guaranteed procurement, as recommended by M S Swaminathan Commission. The absence of remunerative prices, combined with spiraling input costs, has pushed Indian agriculture into an acute crisis. Farmers today face abysmal indebtedness, and distress migration is rampant.
According to government data, 31 farmers commit suicide every day in India. Yet, the prime minister has not initiated any debt relief scheme so far. In stark contrast, corporate debt worth Rs 16.11 lakh crore has been waived over the last 11 years.
Nearly 48 per cent of India’s workforce depends on agriculture, and about 60 per cent of families live in rural areas. The worsening plight of the peasantry under the neoliberal regime is clearly visible in official data. In rural India, the percentage of the population not having access to 2200 calories per person per day (the benchmark for rural poverty originally adopted by the erstwhile Planning Commission) was 58 per cent in 1993-94, around the time when neoliberal reforms were introduced in 1991. This figure increased to 68 per cent in 2011-12. By 2017-18, the situation had deteriorated so badly that the government withdrew the survey data from the public domain and even changed the method of data collection. However, the information briefly available before withdrawal revealed that 80.5 per cent of the rural population fell below this calorie norm in 2017-18.
Contrary to PM Modi’s claim that his government will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fisherfolk, and livestock rearers, the policies pursued over the last 11 years have pauperised agrarian communities. Agricultural land, forests, minerals, and water resources are being handed over to corporate companies – both foreign and domestic.
The three pro-corporate farm laws imposed by the Modi government, aimed at dismantling APMC markets, restricting the MSP system, and undermining the public distribution system, were defeated by the year-long historic farmers’ struggle, which claimed the lives of 736 farmers. Yet, the introduction of the National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing (NPFAM 2024) and the National Cooperation Policy (NCP 2025) represents a renewed attack on the constitutional rights of state governments, the federal rights of people, and an attempt to further open the Indian economy to predatory agribusinesses, including multinational corporations.
At the same time, the four labour codes, designed to supply cheap labour to corporate companies, along with the aggressive drive for privatisation, have denied minimum wages to workers and eliminated the concept of permanent employment. Unemployment today is at its highest in the last 45 years, leaving the future of India’s youth bleak. Even the RSS chief recently admitted that education and healthcare have become inaccessible to ordinary people due to indiscriminate privatisation – an admission that exposes the duplicity of the RSS-BJP combine.
For the last three decades, advocates of trade liberalisation have peddled the false promise that export opportunities would benefit Indian farmers, while progressively opening Indian markets to agricultural imports from developed countries. The reality, however, is evident in India’s rising import dependence on edible oils, pulses, fruits, rubber, cotton, and many other commodities. The ASEAN FTA has devastated the cash crop sector, particularly natural rubber, tea, and coffee. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) expose the Indian economy to the vagaries of international trade and speculation, endangering the peasantry and working people, while tightening the grip of foreign agribusiness on domestic industry. Imports at zero duties inevitably lead to a price crash for Indian farmers, denying them remunerative prices for their produce.
Instead of strengthening multilateralism, the Modi government has completely succumbed to pressure from developed countries and is busy signing bilateral trade deals. India should have upheld a rule-based multilateral trading system and rallied other less-developed countries towards this goal. On the contrary, India today stands isolated and bullied by US imperialist power.
The AIKS, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), and several other kisan organisations have consistently demanded that the union government place the details of all trade negotiations before Parliament, and ensure that no FTA is signed without the approval of the House.
India, being predominantly an agrarian economy, cannot afford the path of export-oriented development that neglects its vast rural population. What is required instead is agriculture-led growth under the aegis of the state. Guaranteeing remunerative prices for farmers and ensuring a minimum living wage for workers would enhance the purchasing power of 140 crore Indians, thereby expanding a vibrant domestic market. This, in turn, would absorb domestic industrial consumer products and strengthen India’s capacity to compete in the global market. AIKS strongly demands that Parliament conduct a thorough review of three decades of neoliberal reforms and adopt a people-centric trajectory of development.
The need of the hour is to rebuff the anti-people Modi government, which has compromised national interests and failed to resist the bullying of US imperialism.
