What was unthinkable till a month ago has happened. Farmers have begun getting a substantial amount as pension from the government – and this, without any middlemen, and the money is going directly into their bank accounts. Its impact would be huge, and the goodwill the Modi government earned out of this is phenomenal. Strong chances are that this will have an impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, at a time when serious doubts had arisen whether the BJP-led government can return to power for a second term.
On Sunday, at an event in Gorakhpur, UP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the surprise provision in the 2019-20 Union Budget. The budget also has a provision for pension to unorganised labour. That too is set to be implemented soon, as both the provisions have won parliament’s approval. Notably, the first scheme styled as the PM-Kisan Yojana, involves a disbursal of Rs 75,000 crore to 12 crore small and marginal farmers across the nation, involving payment of Rs 6,000 a year to a farmer in three instalments. The first instalment of Rs 2,000 has been credited into the accounts of over one crore farmers, while the rest of the beneficiaries would soon get the same in their bank accounts.
Prima facie, PM Modi has stolen a march over the principal Opposition, the Congress party, as also the alliance of regional parties set against him and the BJP. It could be argued, perhaps rightly, that the PM took the decision to accord pension to farmers after the Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh etc., announced a loan waiver for farmers in the aftermath of the five-state assembly polls which led to the defeat of the BJP there. Suggestions were also that the PM and the BJP were planning to come up with some huge lure for farmers in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. Whichever way one looks at it, farmers are now the beneficiaries and in a most surprising and unexpected way.
However, pension alone will not be adequate to deal with the farm crisis. Their basic requirements need be addressed with the same seriousness. For instance, there is need to have better marketing systems for their products without middlemen playing a role; there is need for cold storages to preserve their products until sale; and there should be easy credit facilities so that they will not have to fall into debt traps and eventual suicides.
