This piece is meant for those who have a vision of spiritual India as foreseen by Ramakŕishna Paramhansa, Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and many more Yogis like them. One with materialist values would find no merit or taste in it – and better would not read any further. It is about the future of India as a spiritual giant, for the betterment of humanity. It neither opposes any political party or leader nor supports any one of them. It looks to this India only.
We all know US, China and, like them, many other developed countries produce agricultural stuffs – almonds, tomatoes, fruits and the like – far far better in quality than India produces. But do we all know the reason why the farmers of those countries can produce – and Indian farmers cannot produce – those agricultural items of the better quality?
It is the availabilty of technology that makes this difference – and this availability of technology depends on the availabilty of money. If you have money you too can have and deploy technology. And, if you can have and deploy technology, you too can make money. It is the proverbial riddle: “Hen is the first or egg is the first.” It is a vicious cycle. Indian farmers are poor; they don’t have money; they cannot have technology; they cannot produce better almonds than USA. And, they cannot earn money like US farmers earn.
But this world is an open market. US will sell in India its better almonds but India cannot sell its almonds in USA because it is of inferior quality. Selling one’s almonds – all goods – makes economy of that country strong; it makes the living standrad of its people better; it makes its currency strong – it will be no more, 1 dollar equal to 70 rupees; it makes its security measures – military and things like them – strong. It is the dilemma that India has been facing for 75 years and now Modi’s Indian government has sought to solve this dilemma; it is for this reason that this government has introduced two bills relating to farmers and farming activity in India and got them passed in Lok Sabha.
The solution provided by these bills in effect is to see that capital is invested – by those who have this capital – in agriculture to bring and deploy technology. It is a solution provided by capitalism.
Capitalism is a versatile engine of economic growth – it is time tested for its unrivaled efficacy in that matter – but unbriddled capitalism is not good for humans. Capitalism is moved on the wheels of profit – greed – and greed knows no limits. Here, money – capital – buys everything and can buy anything: if you have money you can buy Moon and Mars – and who would not like to have Moon and Mars! This is human nature.
But India is a land of saints and Yogis, who tamed human nature towards higher and better goal. India should not be an open field for an unbriddled capitalism, invented and perfected by the western civilization. Privatization is capitalism – if you have money you can buy railways, airports and anything you like. Of course if you buy, you buy to earn profits – and if you want to earn profits, you alone are not there to so earn profit, there are many like you; there is competition among all such persons to give at the lesser price and of the better quality of services or products out of the bought and privately owned assets.
This is the secret of the success of capitalism as a versatile engine of economic growth. India needs to tamper this capitalists’ engine of economic development to suit Indian culture and spiritual vision. We are talking here about the two bill concerning farmers that have been passed by Lok Sabha of Parliament.
The first bill is titled as “The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020. This Bill is intended to create an ecosystem where the farmers and traders would enjoy the freedom of sale and purchase of farmers’ produce. It will facilitate remunerative prices of farmers’ produce through competitive trading outside the physical markets under various State (agricultural market) legislations. This trading will be a barrier-free, inter-State and intra-State, and on an electronic trading facilitative framework. It is a welcome thing for farmers.
Section 4 (1) of this Bill gives right to any trader to engage in the inter-State trade or intra-State trade of scheduled farmers’ produce with a farmer or another trader in a trade area. Here, traders and farmers both have right to engage in such trading. But will the farmers be able to engage in such trading? This is the financial – capital – weakness of the farmer, which makes him unable to engage in such trading. Were he in a position to trade, he would have been rich by now and there would not have been need to bring these two laws in Parliament. He cannot trade; he is weak in possessing money. Now, this weakness is further compromised by the second Bill.
The second bill is titled, “The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. Under Section 3 (1) of this prposed law a farmer may enter into a written farming agreement in respect of any farming produce with a “Sponsor” for the purchase a farming produce. Who is this “sponser”? He is the person (a comany, firm and things like them) who has money – that is, he a capitalist.
It looks good that farmers will be able to do free trading of their produce inter and intra states and also free to enter into a willing agreements with sponsers – but in the real world things are not going to be so rosey for farmers. Sponser means a company – or still better, multinational company – who have lots of money. They can – and they will – allure farmers with better money offerings to agree to more and more onerous conditions, which conditions would put not only the “agreeing farmer” but other unconcerned but neghbouring farmers also under undue restrictive conditions – like they cannot take waters to their fields through the field under agreement or even walk to their nearby fields through them. They too would be forced by the money of the sponsers to agree to enter into agreements with those sponsers – this much is for the freedom of farmers to enter or not to enter into agreements under this Bill. Such things have already happened to unwilling land-holders in the past.
There are other facets of undesirable consequences that may – and would – come to farmers in the real world. It is but certain that they would be reduced to mere “chowkidars” and “manual labourers” on their own land for the sponsers. You should keep in mind that greed – the desire for more and more profit – has mo mercy; it has no limits; it invents and discovers ever new ways and means to squeeze and extract. This greed has brought the present cultural calamity to the Western world – and in comparison, India is still an island of peace! We do not wish to go into them in details here – any wise person can foresee them!
There is one antidote to the poison of an unbriddled greed for more and more profits of the sponsers, which would make these farmers healthy: Make farmers entitled to share a percentage in the profit of the sponsers! After all, for doing anagriculture business by the sponsers the farmers are providing a necessary asset – infrastructure – in the form of their land. Why should a farmer not be a partner in the business and profit itself – and only reduced to a mere willing seller of his produce, which brings profit to the sponser?
This percentage of the profit earned out of the business founded on his land may be 10 or 20% and must be incorporated in the bill itself as a mendatory condition. Of course, sponsers would not like to share their profits. But it is for the government to stand with the farmers to make them equal in strength with the strength of the money of the sponsers. Farmers and villages where they live and their way of life are the bedrock of India’s culture and spiritual ethos, which most likely will be unsettled by the sponsers of their agriculture. It is changing India beyond recognition and changing forever.
India is not to follow the west in its life and ways, said Sri Aurobindo. And it includes the economic way also.
Is this way a feasible thing? Will the Indian government adopt this solution? Is the Indian political leadership capable to adopt such path? It can be done by India. But there is a big condition for any political leader to be able to do it. One needs to give supremacy to spiritual vision in dealing with worldly matters like money, profits, business, trade etc., has to enjoy the trust of people and on the strength of that trust to come out of the clutches of the private money. It is a Herculian task. If an extremely popular leader like Modi is not able to do it, nobody else can do it.
In any case, Divine forces are at their work as ever to mould things in our world. It will take its own time to shape things and events here – and humans – and their leaders – are mere instruments in the hands of Divine. If India is to rise as a spiritual guide of humanity, it will have to chart a new course, a course other than imitating the Western capitalism.