AIKS RESOLUTION ON THE

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FARMERS

Following is the text of the resolution adopted by the 31st all India conference of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) held recently in Nasik, Maharashtra. A copy of the resolution has been sent to the union finance minister, P Chidambaram by AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai and AIKS general secretary, K Varadarajan asking him to take into consideration the aspects raised in the resolution while formulating the budget.

THE UPA government has established a National Commission on Farmers under the chairmanship of Dr M S Swaminathan. The commission has now submitted three reports to the Government of India, and in them has made a range of important recommendations to the government.

The 31st all India conference of the All India Kisan Sabha notes that the first report was submitted in December 2004, the second in early August 2005, and the third in December 2005 in the expectation that there would be adequate time for the Government of India to examine the suggestions for appropriate financial support in the budget  for 2006-07. It is an illustration of the absence of political will that instead of responding to the urgent need to mitigate the deep-rooted crisis in agriculture and distress of the peasantry, as witnessed unprecedentedly in independent India, the Government of India decided to kill time by setting up another Committee on Agriculture in the National Development Council under the chairmanship of the union minister for agriculture, Sharad Pawar. The committee, in a futile, repetitive exercise, set up six Working Groups on issues identical to those covered by the commission. The manner in which the committee has begun to function indicates that it will take no less than a year for its report to be finalised.

The 31st all India conference of the All India Kisan Sabha points out that the reports of the National Commission on Farmers covers almost all issues concerning agriculture in India, and that it is rich in the technical details of agricultural science and technology.

This conference notes that there are many recommendations of the commission with which we are in agreement, and which the Conference endorses. They include the following:

(1)     The government should institute a fund on the lines of calamity funds to assist farmers affected by crop losses.

(2)     The rate of interest on loans should be reduced to four per cent simple interest. Compound interest should not be charged on arrears. Interest on loans in areas hit by drought, flood and heavy pest infestation should be waived.

(3)     Crop insurance should be expanded to cover the entire country and all crops.

(4)     The government should create a fund to stabilise  price fluctuations.

(5)          Introduce quantitative restrictions on the import of agricultural commodities.

(6)     The government should undertake a census of farmers suicides in order to gain a proper understanding and assessment of relief measures.

(7)     The government should undertake an all India Debt Survey.

(8)     The government should form state-level Farmers Commisssions in order to ensure immediate response to farmers problems.

In addition, the conference endorses the following list of recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers, which include a comprehensive set of immediate relief measures for addressing the rural distress:

 (1)          Recommendation that agricultural planning be organised on a watershed-basis.

(2)     Steps suggested to increase irrigated area and other measures, such as the implementation of a Million Wells Recharge Programme.

(3)          Establishment of a National Land Use Advisory Service, linked to State and Block Level Use Advisory Services.

(4)          Establishment of a network of advanced  soil testing laboratories.

(5)          Establishment of about 50,000 farm schools for the purpose of farmer-to-farmer learning.

(6)          Initiation of a National Horticulture Mission for capacity building in post harvest technology.

(7)     Steps to specially promote dryland farming

(8)          Organisation of Small Holders Horticulture Estates.

(9)          Integration of all crop-wise technology Missions.

(10)    Credit reform including an enhancement of the total amount available for farm loans and a reduction in interest rates.

(11)          Establishing an Indian Trade Organisation (ITO) and our own boxes for domestic agricultural support on the model of WTO’s Blue, Green and Amber Boxes.

(12)          Cataloguing of indigenous varieties of different crops to prevent biopiracy.

(13)          Promotion of organic farming.

(14)          Establishment of Village Knowledge Centres to promote the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in agriculture.

(15)          Suggestion to transform “microfinance to livelihood  finance,” i.e, the use of SHGs (Self Help Groups) in agriculture and the formalisation of their forward and backward linkages.

(16)          Emphasis on the revitalisation and democratisation of co-operatives.

(17)          Suggestion to revamp the crop insurance system by making it more farmer friendly and reducing premiums.

(18)          Careful use of biotechnology in agriculture (we note for instance observation such as the following Biotechnology can help, but only if it is pro-poor, pro-women and pro-environment.) The public sector must come up with competitive Bt cotton hybrids so as to lower the seed cost and benefit resource poor farmers and insurance should be introduced along with GM seed sale.

(19)          Improvement in the implementation and expansion of the Minimum Support Price system to more crops. There is need for a much stronger protection of MSP in different regions of the country for all commodities.

(20)          Making regulated markets efficient and establishing more rural periodic markets.

(21)    Need to reform age-old marketing laws so as to reduce transaction costs for farmers.

(22)          Emphasis on the reduction of transport costs of agricultural commodities across the country.

(23)          Emphasis to raise the investment in agricultural research to at least one per cent of the agricultural GDP.

The “Composite Financial Summary” of the two reports added together (Rs 3496 crore + Rs 8337 crore) amounts to Rs 11,833 crore (the third Report does not provide any) excluding the cost of certain items recommended, including those of the ‘composite Administrative Initiative’ which are yet to be worked out. Considering that even this amount will not substantially change the investments in agriculture and allied sector in terms of percentage of GNP and total budgetary outlay of the central government, the 31st conference of AIKS demands from the government:

·        This total amount of Rs 11,833 crore be provided in the union budget, 2006-07, in addition to what is provided already.

·        The reports of the National Commission on Farmers must form the basis for the deliberations of the Committee on Agriculture established by the National Development Council; and that the recommendations listed above be implemented.