Parties go all-out to sell dreams to Odisha farmers

While the ruling BJD is busy hardselling its Kalia scheme that promises at least Rs 25,000 financial benefits to farmers over a period of five crop seasons, the BJP is  highlighting the new PM-Kisan scheme that assures Rs 6,000 per annum.

With farmers' agitation gathering pace in the state before the general and Assembly elections, parties in Odisha are trying hard to make "realistic" promises in their manifestos so as to avoid the wrath of peasant communities.

Lakhs of farmers who on Thursday showed their strength by giving a 12-hour statewide bandh call demanding price, prestige and pension, had rejected the packages announced this year by the NDA government at the Centre and the ruling BJD government in the state.

Almost all the farmers who are united under the banner of Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) have dismissed the governmental packages as "temporary relief" laced with the "covert intention" to buy their votes.

Akshaya Kumar, the convenor of NNKS, says the Odisha government's Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) and Union Pradhan Mantri Kisan Saman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan) schemes promised no realistic assurances for sustainable increase in the income of the farmers and social security measures.

Mr Kumar point outs the provisions in the Kalia scheme and PM-Kisan were "quick-fix" measures and lacked vision for long-term solutions to address the problems of the farmers and factors plaguing the growth of agriculture sector in the state.

The farmers in the state cite the Naveen Patnaik government's failure to expand the irrigation network to all the 314 blocks in the state and create adequate infrastructure like cold stores and warehouses for agriculture produces.

"Our concern is that the state should keep its promise of giving bonus on paddy, expanding irrigation facility and creating market linkage for produces. The Centre should increase minimum support price of paddy to a respectable amount instead of giving a few thousands once or twice to woo voters," says Mr Kumar.

The farmer leader, who along with his deputy Seshadeb Nanda and other followers, have been thrown into prison on several occasions for holding rallies, cites how farmers in many parts of the state were subjected to distress sale of paddy this year due to state's alleged incapability to buy their produce. He also shares the agony of vegetable growers who suffer huge losses as their produces perish due to lack of storage capacity.

Out of a total of 314 blocks, irrigation coverage in 198 blocks is less than 35 per cent of the cultivable area.

In 2014, the Naveen Patnaik government had set an ambitious target to increase the cold storage capacity to 7 lakh tonnes by the end of 2017-18. However, only 30,900 tonnes of additional capacity was created till 2016, said government sources.

A task force constituted by the state government in 2014 had estimated that 40 per cent of the potato production was damaged due to poor handling and storage.

The task force had recommended establishment of 112 new cold storages. However, only six cold stores with a cumulative storages capacity of 30,900 tonnes have been constructed so far.

The farm distress has led to a spate of suicides. Official figures now show that the number of suicides in farm sector in Odisha has jumped from 50 in 2015 to 121 in 2016.

The provisional Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) Report 2016 by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that suicides in the agriculture sector have nationally shown a marginal fall but in Odisha, it has actually gone up.

A total of 6.18 million hectares of agricultural land is available for cultivation in Odisha. The contribution of this sector to the GSDP has also decreased to 12.33 per cent in 2014-15 fiscal while agriculture contributes 15.77 per cent towards national GDP.

It seems that the ruling BJD, the Congress and BJP have learnt lessons from the backlash of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly polls and now they are redrafting their strategies to woo farmers.

While the BJD is hardselling its KALIA scheme that promises at least Rs  25,000 financial assistance to farmers over a period of five crop seasons, the BJP is not lagging behind in highlighting the recently announced PM-Kisan Nidhi Samman Yojana that assures Rs  6,000 per annum to farmers to undertake agriculture activities.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, has promised a total loan waiver of all farm loans if his party comes to power in the state. He has also promised Odisha farmers a minimum support price of Rs 2,600 per quintal of paddy as against Rs 1,750 (MSP) fixed by the Union government.