In Chhattisgarh, farmers face inadequate MSP, difficulty in insurance claims

DHAMTARI, CHHATTISGARH: After several failed attempts to get a government job, Roman Lal Sahu is now convinced that spending quality time on his eight-acre paddy field gives him at least a sense of satisfaction if not a good income. His village, Chatoud, falls in Dhamtari district, called the rice bowl of Chhattisgarh as it produces 930 tonnes of rice every year apart from housing 192 large rice mills and exporting 2.5 tonnes of parboiled rice.

Sahu, like most Dhamtari farmers, faces a bigger challenge this year, as his tehsil is among the 96 (of the total 150) the state government has declared drought-hit. “Drought or no drought, the bottom line is you can’t make any profit in paddy cultivation though the government buys your rice and occasionally pays bonuses. I somehow supplement my income with some computer work and driving our tractor for transporting goods,” says the 28-year-old graduate and a trained computer operator.

ET Magazine travelled through the district, covering all the three sub-divisions Dhamtari, Kurud and Nagri-Sihawa, and sensed a simmering discontent among farmers, who complain of an inadequate MSP (under which the government pays Rs 1,550 or Rs 1,590 per quintal of rice, depending on the quality, up to 15 quintals in an acre), irregular payment of bonuses (Rs 300 per quintal above the MSP, given twice in the last four years) and the difficulty in insurance claims when the crop fails. They have in the past hit the streets to protest against the state government, but unlike in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, farmers’ agitations here lack vigour and remain sporadic.

Lala Ram Chandrakar, district secretary of RSS affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, says Chhattisgarh has seen 27 farmers’ protests since 2014. “Unless the government gives a guarantee to buy the entire paddy stock and that too at a reasonably high MSP, how will the farmers survive? The BJP has recently faced a defeat in rural Gujarat because people no longer buy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-poor chaiwallah image.”

He adds that the Kisan Sangh’s links to the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, do not necessarily mean it will support the BJP. “If the BJP does not mend its ways, we are going to oppose the party in the next year’s election,” says Chandrakar, who owns 20 acres of rice fields and a cycle shop in Kurud town.

Had there been an election now, the ruling BJP in the state would have perhaps faced a major jolt, mainly from the farmers. And that is not something the ruling party can afford to ignore, considering the state’s demography — unlike highly urbanised Gujarat, three-fourths of Chhattisgarh’s population are rural and they elect 74 of the state’s 90 legislators.

However, Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has held the post since December 2003, finds no reason to worry. “Yes, every election is a challenge, but there’s no anti-incumbency in Chhattisgarh because every day we neutralise the factors that crop up against our government. In a way, we neutralise antiincumbency on a regular basis. We hold public meetings and resolve people’s problems then and there,” Raman Singh told ET Magazine in Raipur (See “Rural Chhattisgarh is Main Support Base of Our Party…”).

It appears that the government will address some of the farmers’ concerns closer to the assembly polls scheduled in late 2018, the most likely being a substantial hike in the bonuses and their timely release. But the party will also try to stem the widening urban-rural divide and attempt to position itself as a pro-tribal party, thereby offsetting some losses that may arise out of the agrarian crisis. As high as 40% people in the state are tribals, with 29 of 90 seats being reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Whether it is bringing road and internet connectivity to the remote and tribal Bastar or doling out a special bonus for tendu leaf collectors, or even issuing land rights to indigenous communities, tribal welfare will likely emerge as the key thrust area. Some tribals have of late taken up double-cropping to enhance their income. Preetam Markam of Nagri block’s Bandha village explains how his income increased by Rs 25,000 per acre when he started growing maize after rice since last year, with the help of an irrigation pump and discounted electricity. Presently, the state has 24 lakh acres of double-cropped area out of a total net cropped area of 1.14 crore acres.

Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel argues that his party has an upper hand in the next election owing to the growing discontent in rural Chhattisgarh and the fact that there was only a 0.7 percentage point difference in vote share between the two main parties in 2013, when the Congress came within a whisker of wresting the state. “And don’t discount us in urban areas. Five of 13 nagar nigams in the state are with us; two others are held by independents,” Baghel adds. Yet, next year’s real poll battles in the state may not be fought in urban pockets. As the election nears, the Congress is likely to weave its campaign around farm distress whereas the BJP will aggressively play a pro-tribal card.