Video Producer: Anubhav Mishra
Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma
What do the farmers in Mandsaur want? Farm loan waivers? A basic annual income? Or that they be paid the right minimum support price (MSP) for their produce? The Quint’s ‘Chaupal’ reached Mandsaur to find out the answers to these questions.
Some claimed that the announcement of Rs 6,000 per month by the Modi government in the interim Budget 2019 as an annual help to the farmers is just an election ploy.
Also Read: ‘Bhavantar Nahi, Bhav’: Mandsaur Farmers’ Plea for ‘Right Prices’
Others said while the amount is small, providing an annual help will support the small farmers.
Farm loan waiver was also a key topic of discussion among the farmers in Mandsaur. It was one of the most important campaign promises made by Congress President Rahul Gandhi during the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.
The announcement of farm loan waiver of upto Rs 2 lakh was made by new Chief Minister Kamal Nath days after assuming office. But has the order been implemented?
Also Read: BJP government insulted farmers: Congress on Mandsaur firing report
However, a few farmers hailed the loan waiver move and dismissed Modi government’s announcement of Rs 6,000 as annual help.
But a significant number of farmers, however, felt that instead of an annual help or farm loan waiver, purchasing their produce at the decided MSP will be of much more help to them.
Farmers also said merely increasing the MSP will not be enough. The government has to ensure that the farmers actually receive the money.
Also Read: Mandsaur Firing: Probe Panel Gives Clean Chit to MP Cops, CRPF
Have Things Changed After the Protests of 2017?
On 6 June 2017, Mandsaur a small town in Madhya Pradesh became the centre of agrarian distress when six farmers were killed in alleged firing by the Madhya Pradesh police. But has anything changed since then?
Many poll pundits believe that it was the farmer’s distress that cost the BJP the election in the ‘Hindi heartland’ of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in 2018. With the 2019 Lok Sabha election months away, the Modi government’s announcement of annual basic income of Rs 6,000 under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi appears to be a tough sell in Mandsaur.