Ok, Farm Laws repealed ? Will it solve Punjab?s problems?

By all accounts, it is slowly emerging that the opposition to new Farm Laws comes from Punjab and parts of Haryana. As per reports from other states, response of farmers and farmer organisations there, it seems that overwhelming majority of farmers want to move out of the clutches of APMC or Mandis controlled by politicians or their agents. The survey today by Network18 also shows this trend. Many experts have already written about major government procurement of wheat and paddy being done only from Punjab though there are larger producers of wheat and paddy outside these states. I will not get into historicity of this situation. It is clear that farmers of Punjab are major beneficiaries subsidies, MSP and guaranteed pick of their produce, whatever the quality or cost. So, they have an interest in status quo. I challenge below the very idea of sticking to the status quo.

Enough has been said for and against the new bills. I start this analysis by putting my faith in the anti-Farm Bills lobby. So, let us assume that understanding the strong sentiments of the Punjab, farmers government repeals the new Farm Laws. What next?

I am a Punjabi who was born in Mumbai but whose father was so attached to his roots that he would take us to our village every year in the hot summers due to school holiday season. Yes, we enjoyed winter when everything was bountiful. So, I have witnessed the rise in economic well being and wonderful joyous atmosphere in the village and the adjoining mandi Moga, the biggest mandi (grain market) after Khanna in Punjab. They are supposed be the biggest in Asia. My village is 9 km from Moga. I have also seen the decline and greying of once colourful atmosphere of Punjab. I was in and out of Punjab during the entire period of Khalistan related terrorism and have seen the grim fight to stay together despite high decibel violent campaigns to terrorise and throw out Hindus, and silence Sikhs who opposed their ideology.

I give this background to take this as a test case of development of Punjab and what has gone wrong with this once vibrant state. We witnessed kacha roads converted to brick roads by shramdan of villagers, school boys and girls with government offering road building material. I recall our car getting stuck in sand on way to village, taking bullock cart, going by camel, later by cycle to reach my village. Later, we had famous matador tempos that we would ride hanging onto them like bananas. Buses came much later. We saw power coming to village, we saw Nestle coming (its first dairy and milk procurement began in Moga) and also the green revolution that saw sand dunes in our areas converted to lush green fields. We literally saw prosperity arriving in our villages. We also saw our dear neighbours move to Hanumangarh (near Sri Ganga Nagar) and later some move even to Madhya Pradesh for bigger holdings and better incomes.

The farming patterns changed during Green Revolution with easy availability of irrigation facilities. Crops that gave guaranteed income with government support, with subsidised fertilisers, powerand water coupled with MSP became predominant crops in an area that was not basically suitable for those crops. Rice was so alien to the local culture that if you asked for rice they would assume it to be sweetened rice as a dessert or a special treat! One would get it hardly once in a fortnight if one stayed long enough. These farming practices went well till the water levels went down precariously and more and more chemicals – fertilisers as well as pesticides – were needed to produce more of paddy and wheat. Slowly, farming became very demanding and much difficult to pursue at a heavy cost to farmer in terms of health and hard work. There would be accidents where a farmer and his labour would get buried inside the deep bore well being dug as water tables dropped. Pesticides related diseases began to rise. As prosperity increased, new generation didn’t find labouring in farms very attractive. So, we saw the influx of ‘Biharis’ who not just did labour on the field, but slowly took over jobs like rickshaw drivers. Unfortunately, they were not given due respect or dignity but poverty made them work and earn better than they would ever do in Bihar. We know of overflowing shramik expresses etc. The compulsion of influx of Biharis has changed the demographics of these towns and cities. Over years many Biharis have become Sikhs and adopted Punjabi like all intelligent migrants to integrate well.

During this time, the urge to go ‘baahar’ (overseas) became so strong that it became a kind of wave that never weakened and took the form of a compulsive behaviour. From one district in Jalandhar where every home had a person who had gone to England, Canada, or smuggled into Europe; this rage struck entire Punjab. An NRI in shiny clothes and jackets boasting about his life (no matter, he would be doing some menial job there) would attract more. To give an instance, a cousin of mine got married to a girl from neighbouring village (in Punjab) in Canada 18 years back. There were 13 boys and girls in the wedding from our village that has a population of a few thousands! This craze has gone to such an extent that lands are sold or mortgaged and loans taken somehow to escape the dreary life of Punjab. I know of cases where some returned as they couldn’t settle there or were sent back, caught by immigration authorities, ending up in broken families, druggies or committing suicide. Embarrassing stories of girls marrying old men and vice a versa, boys marrying ‘mems’ (local white women) to ‘settle’ there and divorce them later are common. There are enough stories of cheating in NRI weddings, for which a law had to be enacted.

Once joyful, abusively humorous villages and towns have become greying dull places. Youthful verve is missing. I have seen Moga since my childhood. I have stayed there with my close relatives. A mandi having turnover of hundreds of crores has seen no improvement in quality of life. It is stuck in time warp with more and more narrow lanes, cheek by jowl homes and bad roads. If you enter the mandi, you are stuck by never changing environment in decades. So, where are the ‘mandi fee’ and other charges going? Same can be said of other mandis too. Where is infrastructure? Why grains rot in the open for decades? Where are warehouses and cold storages?

On one side there is a huge social issue that nearly every young boy or girl wants to go ‘baahar’ at huge social and economic cost. My nephew, a young headmaster, tells despairingly that even top scorers in high school show no inclination to stay in Punjab for higher education and work in governance or create enterprise. The most productive farmlands near cities and towns are being converted to ‘Banquet halls’, restaurants, showrooms etc as it is more lucrative and involves no back breaking work. Many are owned by NRIs who have lands but have no use for them. On the other side are the worsening farm conditions. Though there has been lot of talk of ‘Udta Punjab’ during elections, no ruling party ever tried to destroy the mafia running these drug rings. It is destroying youth who fail to escape Punjab. There is bigger critical issue of thousands of farmers suffering from cancer and other deadly diseases due to excessive spraying of pesticides. There are cancer trains running from Bhatinda to Bikaner regularly. No politicians worth his/her salt has talked about it or tried to find a solution. Forget solution, why should a rich state not create health facilities so its citizens don’t have to go all the way to Rajasthan to get cured?

It is acknowledged now that the crops being sown in Punjab are not suitable for its soil. Excess use of water, fertilisers and pesticides are turning them into saline lands. While our Punjabi farmers in California have gone for drip irrigation, their families here don’t. Probably because water is free. To farming productive more of chemicals are being used. It’s a vicious downward spiral. Has any politicians or farmer agitating in Delhi talked about it or tried to find solution? Introduction of contract farming was done in Punjab much earlier than other states. It was an attempt to find the solution to obvious downward trend in farm incomes.

Therefore, suppose Modi ji repeals the Farms Bills, will it solve Punjab’s problems? Obviously, the farm bill has taken into account all these social and economic issues and it is a bold move to break away from this vicious cycle. We can’t change the situation by repeating old ideas. But, if we feel insecure with changes and wish to stick to old socialist dogmas, what solutions do the critics have to offer to the real problems of Punjab? Farm Bills are a wake up call for the people of Punjab. Societies thrive that adopt to change, those who refuse to rise to challenges, decay. Will our Punjab leaders recognise the degeneration of once truly hansta-khelta Punjab, arrest its decline and bring those joyous laughters back?