Agriculture

The Punjab State Agricultural Policy Is Nobel of Intent, Without the Burden of Reason

Conflicting, contradictory or deliberately ambiguous messages are being conveyed to further aggravate farmers’ doubts on agrarian policy in Punjab.

Agrarian crisis in its plurality is writ large on the body politic of rural India. Landlessness, scarcity of land, falling incomes and rising costs of farming, mounting farm debts, suicides, ecological crisis manifesting in the degradation of environment, health, and water, lack of employment in farm sector, especially for women, and increasing hold of the corporate giants on the lives of farmers is part of everyday experience of the rural farming communities.

Successive state government have been promising agricultural policies to pull the peasantry out of this crisis. In the last 10 years two comprehensive proposals came out on Punjab’s agricultural policy: G. S. Kalkat-led policy draft was presented to the SAD government in 2013 and Ajayvir Jakhar led policy draft submitted to the Congress government in 2018. None of these drafts were discussed or recommendations acted upon.

AAP came to power in Punjab in 2022 on the promise of a sound agriculture policy. Acting on its promise, the government revamped the Punjab Farmers and Farm Worker Commission and an 11-member Agricultural Policy Formulation Committee was constituted. The Committee submitted the Punjab State Agricultural Policy to the Bhagwant Mann government in the fall of 2023. The draft was neither tabled nor made public. In the meantime, several farmers’ unions submitted comprehensive policy drafts to the Punjab government but received no response. Following the protests by SKM and other farmers when the Punjab assembly was in session in September, the AAP government released the Punjab State Agricultural Policy on September 18, 2024.

Punjab State Agricultural Policy

The proposed agricultural policy is spread over 19 chapters running into 200 pages. The preface says that the “main emphasis of the policy is to increase the profitability of the farms by promoting healthier agriculture production, value addition and marketing systems in a cooperative mode with efficient utilisation of natural resources while embracing biodiversity thus providing quality food for the society and raising the happiness index of the masses.”

Taken together, the stated objectives of the policy claim that it will achieve a healthier agricultural production, value addition and marketing system which is globally competitive while at the same time accomplish the twin goals of higher profits and better earnings. It also says that it will generate productive employment in the farm sector and rural areas while conserving natural resource, promoting biodiversity and securing and developing the productive potential of agri-ecology, which will lead to raising the happiness index of the stakeholders.

Also read: ‘Punjab Govt Not Serious’, Activists to Block Flow of Effluents into Sutlej’s Budha Nala Starting Today

There are key premises which undergird these objectives. It assumes that enhanced profitability and improved earnings or the restoration of agriculture ecology of Punjab are consistent with a larger macroeconomic policy and agrarian strategy. It assumes that the employment opportunities in the farm sector and rural areas are not stymied by links with the non-agriculture sector. It assumes that the subordinate role of agriculture in the larger macro-economic growth strategy can be wished away and that a globally competitive agriculture is possible without playing by the global rules of trade. Finally, it assumes that an autonomous policy space exists which can be grabbed for holistic development of agriculture (whatever that means) and redistribution of rewards on the basis of value generated, the centralising nature of the centre-state relations notwithstanding.

The key spatial unit and the foundation of policy intervention is the Natural Growing Areas (NGAs). Decentralised planning at the level of NGAs and building strong backward-forward linkages for various crops grown in these NGAs is suggested as the way forward. One of the modalities of achieving this is by operating in a “cooperative mode” assisted by multiple Centres of Excellence (CoE), 18 to be precise. There is no discussion as to what Centres of Excellence mean or the operational modalities they will follow. That it is a self-designation of excellence without approval by an independent, external process of evaluation, poses no problem for the report. While details are lacking on every aspect of the policy, the structure of CoE with 15 posts for each centre (p. 27) with details down to office clerks, chowkidars, and drivers appear prominently.

The report claims that most of the NGA for existing crops have already been mapped and are in the records of agriculture and horticulture departments. Then what or who stopped it from implementing the NGA-mapped crop combination? Does the NGA-enabled diversification model ensure better or at least equal returns which the current paddy-wheat combination is offering? If not, is the state government going to compensate the farmers for the shift? The draft policy is silent on it. The report does not explicitly answer why NGA-mapped diversification did not happen earlier, nor does it say why “certain crops are enforced” (p. 15) on farmers of Punjab. The implicit answer for this failure is “the anti-agriculture and anti-rural bias of vested interests” (p. 13). But then again the report is silent on how the state policy will overcome this bias or blunt the power of the vested interests. In the absence of this concrete discussion, the foundational policy unit is reduced to mere expression of intention with no possibility of being adopted by the state government.

Leap of faith: Fuzzy cooperation overriding the anarchy of the market

The key instrument in the proposed policy to overcome the failures of the current strategy is through organising farming in a ‘cooperative mode’, a kind of synergy between various sections of the rural population in Punjab. The key foundation of cooperation is clusters of three or four villages which come together to form multi-purpose cooperative societies throughout the state. As proposed, these societies will decide and grow the crop best suited to their Natural Growing Area using the most appropriate technology; they are expected to sell their products by developing their own departmental store outlets in major townships; promote and integrate with the commodity value chains; and, it is expected that the government will provide the support to sustain and strengthen these multi-purpose cooperative societies.

In other words, this is a proposal of some kind of decentralised development approach as a way forward. However, when the national government is spearheading the oligopolistic take-over of the Indian economy, how will this decentralised economic development growth strategy be adopted by the state of Punjab? What is the basis to expect that big state institutions will be created by the state government when it is already outsourcing economic advisory roles to private consultancies that represent the interests of global capital?

The recently created Punjab Development Commission is an independent think-tank to support the development needs of the state and convert the state’s vision of rangla Punjab (vibrant Punjab) into a reality. It is also an example of the state government’s vision on policy advisory for Punjab’s development.

‘Cooperatives’ come up in different sections of the draft policy sometimes as a recommendation of adopting a “cooperative mode” in farming, and at other times as cooperative social relations or as a mode of organising village life. Assuming that the cooperatives in the policy document allude to promoting production and marketing through the cooperative mode, are cooperatives a new idea? They have been around in Punjab. In the early five-year plans, state policy attached a great deal of importance to cooperatives to enable small farmers to acquire greater bargaining strength in the economy vis-a-vis the big players, through access to credit, input and produce markets. But the said purpose was not quite realised. These are lessons to be drawn from but there is not even a cursory reflection in the policy document before asserting a renewed faith in cooperatives.

Any endorsement for a cooperative mode will do well to acknowledge that the Union government formed a new Ministry of Cooperation in 2021 with an objective to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement. ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ was declared a “historic move” in the direction of cooperative federalism. This move by the Union government is overriding the powers of state legislatures as cooperatives are strictly within the domain of the state government and legislatures. The very idea behind cooperative federalism, it was said, is to “bring states together as ‘Team India’ to work towards national development agenda”. It involves ‘structured policy initiatives and close engagement’ of the Centre with the states that seeks to homogenise the development approaches of the Union government and the states.

How is Punjab supposed to introduce its own version of ‘cooperation’ as a key component to its intervention in agriculture when the Union government is increasingly inclined to depend on global markets for agricultural growth? The attempt by the Union government to impose the farm laws on states and the very essence of these laws were a strong testimony to its approach towards agriculture. How is it even a relevant recommendation if the challenges of implementation are not brought under discussion?

How will these cooperatives ensure that they meet the requirements of small and marginal farmers who are at the centre of the agrarian crisis in Punjab? How will they create machines and technology which can be shared by small-scale farmers? As far as the policy is concerned, all these issues are the mandate of the Centres of Excellence that are yet to be created. That means that a clear agriculture policy will emerge only after these institutes are put in place and ready to give recommendations. In that case, what is this policy draft doing?

The outcome of this lack of clarity is reflected in every recommendation of the policy. In each chapter the recommendations are a wish list without detailing how the government will act to achieve these goals or even their feasibility in the context of overall development strategy. There is a clear danger that the space left vacant by the policy will be seized by the anarchy of the market to the benefit of those whom the policy did not set out to benefit.

‘Happiness index’ is certainly not going to increase with deepening ties with imperialist development and building links with global commodity chains monopolised by giant corporations. It is linked with ability to alter development priorities. However, the proposed policy draft seems to suggest its own pathway about altering development priorities without presenting a coherent framework rooted in any of the existing critical approaches to development theory.

Prioritising social and ecological wellbeing requires radical redistribution, reduction in the material size of the global economy, and transforming societies to ensure environmental justice.

Punjab is reeling under ecological crisis, but the proposed policy devotes two brief paragraphs to ecology and says nothing on providing support to farmers for transition to sustainable agriculture. “Ensuring happiness” and a good life for all require all policies and corporate strategies to be rethought from the perspective of climate change, ecological limits to growth and resource distribution. Transition to sustainable modes of farming requires state support. It requires reconsidering the inherent inequalities of current levels of consumption and concrete steps to enable the marginalised majority to improve their wellbeing.

The document seems to be in a hurry to usher in Punjab’s very own golden age, where the state is bound by the “holy task” of raising the “happiness index” and famers are committed to a “sacred profession”. It wants us to believe that the economic and social interests of different sections or classes in the rural society will come in perfect harmony by making “cooperation” as the mode of decision making.

Also read: Farmers in Punjab Carry Out Indefinite Blockade of Highway Over Poor Lifting of Paddy

Specific policies on land, tenancy, labour and women farmers

Land is at the heart of agrarian crisis. High inequality in land distribution stemming from colonial policies of land settlement and failed land reforms, have created a precarious life situation for a majority of small and marginal farmers and the landless. The farmers’ protest and ongoing movements of landless, agriculture labourers and Dalit people have brought unequal distribution and land scarcity issues to the forefront. Dalit farm holdings as percentage of all operational holdings in Punjab is 5.76%. All-India it is 11.9% and the area of Dalit farm holdings as a percentage of total area is 3.59% as compared to 8.6% all India according to the Agriculture Census 2015-16.

The policy claims:

“Punjab had accomplished the land reforms, especially consolidation of land holding in the years following national independence. The rural economy with diverse agriculture, based on on-farm produced inputs had been generating quality food with high dietary value to fulfil nutritional and other needs of rural families”.

Following this assumption, recommendation on land focus on two specific issues.

The first is the digitisation of land records “for ensuring transparent and efficient land transactions”. It is well known that the union government has been trying to create vibrant land sale markets to attract foreign investment and showcase the country as a credible alternative for capital in search of new avenues. Right after coming to power in 2014, the NDA government tried to dilute the provisions in Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-Settlement Act 2013, reducing the powers of farmers and making land acquisition easier for private corporate projects. The amendments had to be rolled back due to the pressure from farmers but removing protections for smallholders and enabling greater liquidity of land by creating one homogeneous land market in the country so that land could be easily transacted, remains a priority. To achieve this goal, Niti Aayog has been pushing better land records, digitisation and integration of all records relating to titles, formalising cadastral maps of all plots of land, defining a structured timeline for timely resolution of property disputes and making public land disputes data etc.

The Punjab Agriculture policy draft is an almost verbatim repeat the argument with a seemingly innocent concern that “out-dated land records, unclear titles and existing land laws have driven many individuals towards court cases. As a result, it breaks fraternity, kinship, and social harmony and weakens the economic position of the people”.

Facilitating the creation of homogenous land market without acknowledging complex ownership patterns and looming interests is not going to pave the way for digitisation to strengthen fraternity.

The second policy recommendation is tenancy law reform.

The report mentions that 24% of the cultivated area in Punjab is under tenancy and tenancy is riddled with complex issues – contracts are verbal, tenants do not get compensation for failed crops, unregistered tenants cannot become effective members of any cooperative credit society, there is reverse tenancy, and there are NRIs leasing out lands, etc. The section concludes by recommending, “…Therefore, the tenancy laws need to be reformed to protect the interests of both the tenant and landowner. The rental income from leased land should be exempted from income tax, as income derived from agriculture is currently exempted”.

How is income tax exemption going to ensure, for example, that unregistered tenants become members of cooperative credit society or get compensation for failed crops? The policy fails to suggest any concrete step to protect the rights of the tenants. Liberalising the lease market could potentially open doors for corporate investors into agriculture. In land-strapped Punjab this will hurt and work to the disadvantage of small and marginal farmers by restricting their access to land.

Employment under MGNREGS: Branding symptom of economic distress as potential

The proposed policy states:

“Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 is a significant instrument for the provision of employment for rural labour, both skilled and unskilled. In Punjab, over 27 lakh workers are registered under the MGNREGA scheme…Only 13,534 households were provided with 100 days of wage labour. There is a huge potential to employ rural labour under the MGNREGA scheme…the economic conditions of farm workers can be improved through the MGNREGA scheme.” (Emphasis added).

Rising demand for low-paying labour work under MGNREGA points to an ultimate failure of economic policy to generate gainful employment. It’s a symptom of economic distress and not a potential. MGNREGA provides low-paying work on minimum wage for unskilled manual work and the real wage rate has remained stagnant essentially. The current MNREGA wage rate of Rs 322 in Punjab is grossly inadequate to meet even basic needs. There is need for policy to create employment which provides a living wage to all farm workers, which would cover food, clothing and shelter along with the educational, health and social needs of the families. Moreover, what sense does a policy recommendation like 200 days of MNREGA make when it’s not even a Punjab government scheme?

The recommendation for women farm workers is “special attention should be given to promoting women-centric skills like stitching, embroidery, child/women healthcare services etc”. Stitching, embroidery are dead-end skills which hardly provide an opportunity for improving livelihood situations.

The policy recommendation on access to land repeats the already existing legal provision of one-third of the Panchayati land and other common lands to be leased out to farm workers. But in the document, it comes with an added conditionality: “This land should be meant for the Integrated Farming System (IFS) under cooperative farming”. Does this mean that the lessee cannot farm the land by any other way anymore? Is this within the rules of The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules? What is the framework for the Integrated Farming System (IFS) which will govern the lease of land to Dalits?

In another section, the policy draft mentions the need to establish a ‘Centre of Excellence for Integrated Farming and Integrative Income Support’ at PAU to ensure higher profitability for the 3.5 lakh small and marginal farms. Is the leased land to Dalits to be governed by this ‘Centre of Excellence’?

A longstanding demand of the landless labourers and the unions representing the landless has been the long term lease of the panchayati land which is reserved for Dalits. However, while the proposed policy agrees that long-term lease is a better and efficient utilisation of land in a separate section of the report, when it comes to leasing land to the landless, no such recommendation is made. The lack of empathy and indifference to the demands of farm workers is extremely disappointing and a continuation of the brutal policy bias of the past.

Also read: As Paddy Glut Pushes Punjab Towards Major Agrarian Crisis, Questions Over Mann and Modi Govts’ Delayed Response

Why is the acquisition and redistribution of excess to ceiling land not part of the recommendation, one wonders? The recommendations such as pension plan and compensation for landless, which are being trumpeted as most progressive, are radical only if they are a part of an overall redistributive framework which recognises the value of labour.

Writing women farmers and workers out of policy

Women farmers and workers have been displaced from productive roles in agriculture in Punjab and long written out of policy. While there are women cultivators and agricultural labourers, women are not counted as ‘farmers’ by government data collection sources since most women do not have land titles in their name. As per the Agriculture Census 2015-16, in Punjab, out of a total 10.93 lakh landholdings, there are just 17,000 (about 0.08%) in the name of women and the area operated by women landholders in Punjab is 43,000 hectares (0.23%) out of total 39.54 lakh hectares (all India figure is 11.72%).

It is deeply disappointing that the section on ‘Women in Agriculture’ in the draft policy ends up being a story of surrender and despair. There is complete policy erasure of women’s claims to productive involvement in farming. Rather than suggesting means to bring women back to the productive sphere, the draft recommends training women and developing skills for undertaking “subsidiary occupations” and skills related to “household activities such as stitching, embroidery etc to upscale their knowledge as well as family income”.

Women farmers have experienced dispossession and the processes of dispossession have disempowered them in profound ways. Women have also been bearing the ultimate burden of farmer suicides which plunge households into deep crisis. They are left without assets but with the burden of indebtedness. In the absence of formal recognition as farmers, women cultivators are excluded from government schemes and loans, and are thrown to microfinance sharks.

As far women’s land rights are concerned, the policy recommends: “To encourage women empowerment and reduce gender bias in society, the land property rights of women should be looked upon”

It is disappointing that the agriculture policy draft fails to acknowledge the invisibilisation of women farmers and the policy makers conveniently recuse themselves from the responsibility of specific recommendations to remedy the situation. The document pays lip service and repeats the cliché, “social and other barriers” which “limit the participation of women in the workforce”. Not a single example of what these barriers are and how they are being resisted by women farmers and workers is made. The policy draft has let women down.

Where is the budgetary commitment from Punjab government?

The Mann government circulated the Agricultural Policy without a budgetary or temporal commitment. Why invite policy proposals if no resources were to be set aside?

From the reports in the media, Punjab Development Commission (PDC), the independent think tank of the Punjab government with a big budget attached to it, is also drawing up policy proposals for agriculture. If so, then what is the purpose of the draft in hand?

Clearly, conflicting, contradictory or deliberately ambiguous messages are being conveyed to further aggravate farmers’ doubts on agrarian policy in Punjab. The policy draft is trapped in a spiral of untenable propositions, some made untenable because of the shrinking space for policy autonomy which the draft fails miserably to identify, but also because it chooses to stay silent on crucial matters where it could have taken the lead to bring sections of farmers out of distress.

Navsharan Singh is an author and activist. Atul Sood is a JNU professor.

US Challenges India in the World Trade Organization Yet Again

While the US and these exporting countries see India as distorting global trade, India has been struggling to ensure its own food security.

On November 11, 2024, the World Trade Organisation circulated a communication from the US, Argentina, Australia, Canada and Ukraine which alleges that India appears to be providing significant market price support to wheat and rice. The communication relates to marketing years (MY) 2021-22 and 2022-23. It points out that the support is substantially more than what India had notified earlier. The communication mentions that its sponsors would like further discussion on the issue in the WTO. At its core the entire MSP regime of India for wheat and rice has been challenged yet again.

This is not the first time that the US has circulated a communication on the issue. In May 2018 too, a similar paper was issued by the Committee on Agriculture of WTO, on the request of US.

On June 6, 2018, the WTO circulated a compilation of questions posed by the US regarding the domestic support to wheat and rice through MSP regime.

On January 23, 2022, 27 members of US Congress wrote to US Trade Representative and Secretary Agriculture in the Biden Administration to hold India accountable regarding MSP support to wheat and rice production.

On July 1, 2022, four members of US Congress wrote to President Biden that India’s MSP regime is dangerously distorting global trade, and it adversely impacts US farmers.

Why does India’s support look so high?

Primarily there are three reasons why India’s rice and wheat support is estimated to be higher than reality, in any typical year:

WTO’s methodology of estimating crop price-support utilises a comparison of prices in year 2022/23 with those in years 1986-88: The level of price support that a country provides for farmers of a crop is estimated by the WTO as the difference between the administered/ruling price of that crop with an external reference price. If within a year, the former (on average) is greater than the latter, then the crop is assessed to have been ‘supported’ to that extent. But if one compared the prices of today with those 36 years back, then inevitably the former is going to be higher. This is how the WTO estimates price support for crops, essentially without accounting for inflation.
Value of support is estimated based on total production and not the quantity that was actually procured: From point 1 above, the “level of price support” per tonne of grain is estimated, which is then multiplied with the crop size to get the value of support or Aggregate Measure of support (AMS) for a crop. The disconnect in methodology of US etc is that instead of accounting for just the procured quantity, they argue that the entire crop of wheat and rice benefits from MSP. The resultant support therefore looks much higher.
Currency for estimation of support: The US uses INR to determine support by taking the USD-INR exchange rate of 1986-89. It does not consider the depreciation in INR. As a result, Indian support looks substantially exaggerated.

There are about 145 million farmers in the country and about 86 percent of these have landholdings below two hectares. As per the recently released NAFIS survey report, these farmers on average earn about Rs.12,698 per month, i.e., about Rs. 1,52,376 per year or about US$ 2059 per year (at 2022 exchange rate). With an average household size of 4.2 persons, this implies that average income of a farm household is less than US$500 in a year. Most Indian farmers are resource-poor.

Indian agriculture is increasingly threatened by climate change which includes scorching summer, erratic monsoon rains, shorter and warmer winter and pest attacks. There is a consensus among policy makers that rice production in several water stressed regions needs to be discouraged. Going forward, we can expect policies to support this.

While the US and these exporting countries see India as distorting global trade, India has been struggling to ensure its own food security. Due to lower crop, the export of wheat and rice has remained restricted for over two years.

India does not pose any real challenge to major wheat exporting countries. India has a share of just 2.4% of global exports of agricultural products of about $1.3 trillion. With just about 11% of global arable land and 4% of freshwater resources but 17.84 % of world population, India’s principal challenge will continue to be to ensure food security for 1.6 billion people (by 2047).

Siraj Hussain is a former Union agriculture secretary. Shweta Saini, an economist, is CEO of Arcus Policy Research.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

Toxins in Kodo Millet Crop Caused 10 Elephant Deaths in Madhya Pradesh: Toxicology Report

The detailed toxicology report by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute also recommends that fungus-infected kodo crops in the area be surveyed and destroyed so that it does not affect domestic or other wild animals.

Bengaluru: It is now confirmed: fungal toxins in the standing kodo millet crop that elephants ate, near Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, are what killed 10 of them last week. The detailed toxicology report released by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, on the evening of November 5 that was accessed by The Wire shows that the stomach contents of the dead elephants had very high levels of cyclopiazonic acid – a toxin produced by fungi known to affect the crop.

The IVRI, which also tested for the presence of a wide range of insecticides but did not find any in the dead elephants’ stomach samples, found that all samples contained more than 100 parts per billion of cyclopiazonic acid that suggests that the elephants “might have consumed large quantity of kodo plant/grains”. The report recommends that fungus-infected kodo crops in the area be surveyed and destroyed so that it does not affect domestic or other wild animals.

While it is a concern that mycotoxins in the standing kodo millet crop killed 10 elephants in the Reserve, this is very rare and not really new: there has been a record of 14 elephants dying after consuming kodo millets in the 1930s in Tamil Nadu, wildlife biologists told The Wire. And there are worse things than kodo millets killing elephants across the country. Madhya Pradesh, for instance, got its first resident elephants in more than three decades because mining and deforestation may have pushed them from the adjacent states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha, experts told The Wire. Solutions to conserving elephants in the region, therefore, would need a landscape-centric approach which also includes raising awareness among local communities and farmers in Madhya Pradesh about how to live with elephants now that the animals are here to stay in the state, they said.

Ten elephants die in Bandhavgarh

On October 29, the staff of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh were in for a rude shock. Four elephants lay dead at Sankhani and Bakeli in Khitoli range within the Reserve; six others were found unwell. The next day, despite treatment, four more elephants died; followed by two more on October 31. The elephants’ post-mortems were even more shocking: all dead elephants had large quantities of kodo millets in their stomachs, news reports quoted officials as saying. This pointed to toxins in the kodo crops that could have turned fatal for the elephants; however, detailed toxicology reports would be required to confirm this, officials added. Samples of the elephants’ stomach contents were then sent to laboratories including the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, for analyses.

Meanwhile, the chief minister announced after an emergency meeting he had called for on Sunday, November 3, that the state would take several measures including putting together an Elephant Task Force, and also radio-collaring elephants to understand their movements within the state. The state government put together a special investigation team to probe into the incident; on November 4, the government also suspended the Field Director of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, and an Assistant Conservator of Forests for “negligence” in performing their duties and not keeping track of the movements of the elephant herd in the area. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change also roped in the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to investigate the issue.

Laboratory tests conducted on the elephants’ stomach samples by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, looked for different types of chemicals, including traces of different groups of commonly-used insecticides, and toxins produced by fungi that kodo millets are known to contain. Their results, published in the detailed toxicology report submitted to the government on the evening of November 5 confirmed that the samples did not contain any insecticides, heavy metals or other poisons. However, all samples contained more than 100 parts per billion of cyclopiazonic acid, a toxin produced by fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium, that has been found in kodo grains previously. Per the report, which The Wire accessed: “The results indicate that the elephants might have consumed large quantity of Kodo plant/grains.”

The report recommends that fungus-infected kodo crops in the area be surveyed and destroyed so that it does not affect domestic or other wild animals, and that farmers and livestock owners around the Tiger Reserve be made aware of the issue. It also added that a detailed study will need to be conducted to understand the dose of cyclopiazonic acid that is lethal to domestic and wild animals.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) has also shared the ICAR-IVRI report with the Additional Chief Secretaries of the Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the administrative heads of the districts of Shahdol, Katni, Umaria, Sidhi and Anuppur in the state for appropriate action. However this may be already late: on November 5, a local source based at Bandhavgarh who did not want to be named told The Wire that around 20 cattle in two villages outside Bandhavgarh had already fallen sick after consuming kodo millets.

The IVRI report, however, rules out the possibility of foul play, and lays to rest allegations leveled by the Congress of the currently BJP-run state government that the deaths were deliberate “poisonings”. State Congress president Jitu Patwari had alleged that the deaths of the 10 elephants were “not an accident”, while former Chief Minister of the state and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath had called for a CBI or judicial inquiry into the deaths of the elephants.

Millets and Malona, delirium and deaths

The ability of millets – small-seeded grass species – to grow well in areas that have limited water resources, across a variety of soil types and across vastly different terrains make them an ideal crop for farmers especially along forest fringes in many parts of India. For instance, a 2019 study that looked at historical references to interactions between people and elephants along a forest-agriculture border in what is now the Ranni forest division in southern Kerala quotes a poem by Kapilar, a Tamil poet of the famous Sangam period (dating back from the third century BCE to the third century CE), as noting how people in the area would sit guard at night over their millet fields to protect them from bull elephants at that time. Clearly, elephants are not strangers to raiding millet fields.

But huge expanses of rich food for the taking come with risks. Elephants have to swallow as much grain as they can in a short time before people guarding their crops shoo them away. But more importantly, some millet varieties contain aflatoxins and alkaloids – poisons produced by some species of moulds that grow in millet grains – that are known to be toxic to animals including cattle and monkeys. Kodo millets – commonly referred to as bajra – an ancient grain that Indians have cultivated for at least 3,000 years, per some estimates, also sometimes develop moulds that produce a mycotoxin called cyclopiazonic acid. Such infected kodo grains can affect the health of people who consume it too. Symptoms in people include vomiting, giddiness, unconsciousness, a rapid pulse, cold extremities, and tremors. Kodo poisoning even has a name: malona, the people of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh call it, according to references cited by a study published in 2021. Many studies including this one also mention that kodo millets ‘turn poisonous’ after prolonged rains, when the maturing and harvesting of kodo grains coincide with rainfall because moisture aids the growth of fungi and moulds.

“Farmers believe that kodo millet is poisonous after a rain. It is known to produce unconsciousness or delirium with violent tremors of the voluntary muscles. There are reports that elephants have died from eating kodo millet…To prevent poisoning, the grains are carefully removed from the glume, lemma and palea before cooking,” a 1983 study that looked at the diversity of kodo millets in India noted.

And there has been a precedent of elephants dying after consuming kodo millets, Aritra Kshettry, National Lead for Elephant Conservation, WWF-India, told The Wire. A communication in the Journal of Bombay Natural History Society talked of how a British forester reported 14 elephant deaths – all belonging to the same herd – from Tamil Nadu in the 1930s, due to ingestion of kodo millet, he said.

The Wire accessed the paper that Kshettry referred to. The ‘Miscellaneous Note’, published in the Journal by R.C. Morris dated May 22, 1934, noted how the Chief Conservator of Forests of Madras had informed him that villagers near Vannathiparai Reserve Forest (in Theni district in Tamil Nadu, near the Kerala border) had spotted 14 elephants dying there. Morris reported that a subsequent “chemical examination” showed that the elephants had died from kodo millet poisoning, and that a similar incident had occurred a few years ago in the same area.

“When this grain is in a poisonous condition it is apparently known as ‘Kiruku Varagu’ [Mad Kodo]”, the note by Morris read.

Kshettry also added that he had heard of reports of an incident of an elephant dying in Chhattisgarh a few years ago; a post mortem revealed its stomach contents as containing kodo millet. However, because it was a one-off incident, it may have been categorized as a natural death, he said.

A researcher who has been working in the Bandhavgarh landscape for more than two years noted that Bandhavgarh and its vicinities have witnessed an unusually prolonged monsoon this year. The researcher, who did not want to be named as they work with the state forest department, said that this could explain why the kodo crop may have turned out to be fatal for the 10 elephants that died in the Tiger Reserve, as the grains may have accumulated a lot of moisture during this time.

“Unseasonal weather events, which can be expected to become more common in the era of climate change, may increase the chances of such occurrences [as the recent deaths in Bandhavgarh],” wrote elephant scientist Raman Sukumar who is the National Science Chair, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, and T.S. Suryanarayanan, Director, Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapeeth, Chennai, in a commentary on Down to Earth on November 5.

Bigger threats: Mining, deforestation, persecution

While the deaths of 10 elephants in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve are indeed a concern and have elicited immediate and much-needed action from the administration, there are worse things than kodo millets that kill elephants. Such as people, and disturbances caused by people. For instance, the union environment ministry submitted in a response to the Lok Sabha in July this year that as many as 528 elephants had died in the country over the last five years due to “unnatural causes” including poaching, poisoning, train accidents and electrocution.

Live wires claim elephant lives all year through, and across most habitats in India that elephants dwell in. While farmers are permitted to use mild shocks through methods such as solar fences to deter elephants, high voltage wires that are fatal for both peoples and pachyderms are not permitted. But that’s a rule that people often flout. As per data submitted by the union government in the Lok Sabha in July this year, 71 elephants died due to electrocution in Odisha, 55 died due to the same reason in Assam, as did 52 in Karnataka and 49 elephants in Tamil Nadu. As recently as November 4, the Chhattisgarh High Court initiated a suo motu petition taking cognizance of news articles that reported that three elephants were electrocuted to death in the state’s Chuhkimar forest division last week. As per a report by the Indian Express that quoted petitioners in a court case, 21 elephants have died in Chhattisgarh alone between 2022 and 2024.

In fact, both persecution and human-caused disturbances such as mining in adjoining states gave Madhya Pradesh its very own resident elephant herds since 2018, several wildlife biologists told The Wire.

One biologist who did not want to be named as they work closely with state forest departments and feared retribution in the form of both persecution and withholding of research permits said that the persecution of elephants by people in Jharkhand and southern West Bengal in the form of hulla parties had driven several herds into Odisha. From here, many elephants moved into Madhya Pradesh via the forests of Chhattisgarh – or whatever currently remains of them.

For in Chhattisgarh the elephants could not remain. The once-contiguous forests here are now patchy, as people have logged trees in huge numbers for developmental projects including mining. And forests in the state continue to disappear. Even a 2023 study that looked at data published by the Forest Survey of India (scientists have repeatedly raised several concerns about their methodology in mapping India’s forest cover) found a telling decrease in forest area in Chhattisgarh between 2001 and 2019. The study attributed the decrease in forest cover to encroachment, degradation of forest, mining, felling, and diversion of land for irrigation. Another recent study that looked at satellite imagery from 1990 to 2020 found that the districts of Korba and Raigarh in the state witnessed an expansion in coal mines, built-up areas, and water bodies, while forest areas decreased by 711.3 sq km and 212.87 sq km respectively. The district of Sarguja too witnessed coal mine and built-up area expansion, along with a decline in forest cover of 160.21 sq km till 2010, per the study. This is one of the districts where the Hasdeo Bachao Andolan or the Save Hasdeo Movement, is still going strong, with local communities fighting the take-over of their forests by the Adani Group who have been awarded coal mining permits in the region by the union government.

Locals protest against tree felling in Hasdeo, Chhattisgarh. Photo: By arrangement

In fact, the elephants’ movement into Madhya Pradesh from Chhattisgarh is primarily caused by disturbances such as mining and the resulting deforestation that has fragmented the forests in Chattisgarh, said Kshettry. He said that elephants had been hunted out by the early 1900s in Madhya Pradesh and the state did not have elephants for several decades. However, the animals began migrating back into the area after the 1980s from Odisha and Jharkhand. So Madhya Pradesh – where around 40 elephants are now resident – will need to develop a landscape-level conservation plan that also raises awareness among people on how to live with elephants because the animals are now here to stay, he added.

For as interactions between elephants and people increase in the state, instances of crop raiding by elephants have increased, as have human deaths. On November 2, just a couple of days after the elephants died in Bandhavgarh due to kodo poisoning, two people died and one person was injured in the same district after interactions with elephants. On November 3, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav announced that the state government would erect solar fences around farms to decrease human-elephant conflict in the state. The state government is also working with non-governmental organisations that have expertise in dealing with negative human-elephant interactions.

“The Wildlife Trust of India has been assisting the Forest Department at a landscape level to address the issues of human wildlife conflict, corridor securement and strengthening management capacity,” said Milind Pariwakam, Joint Director, Wildlife Trust of India. Our emphasis is on the landscape outside the PA network where the threats are higher…we are also assisting the forest department in training and capacity building of Primary Response Teams and also in building awareness among the villagers to reduce conflict.” The organisation is also working with the community to understand human practices that contribute to conflict and other drivers of conflict as well, including conducting surveys to identify the threats in the corridor and the bottleneck areas to help plan site specific solutions, Pariwakam added.

For now, forest staff at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve have already burnt the standing kodo millet crop that the elephants ate. On November 4, CM Yadav also said that he would discuss with the Chattisgarh CM about the challenges arising due to herds of elephants entering Madhya Pradesh via Chhattisgarh, as well as better coordination between the two states to tackle the issue.

Why There is an Urgent Need to Promote Sustainable Irrigation Practices

Agriculture being the largest consuming sector of water resources, it is imperative to promote sustainable irrigation practices such as micro-irrigation.

India’s achievement of self-sufficiency in food production has primarily been driven by the significant expansion in irrigation accompanied by high yielding varieties and input use. The extent of irrigated crop area as a percentage to gross cropped area rose from about 17% in 1950-51 to about 55% in 2022-23 as per the latest land use statistics data released by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture in September 2024.

Nevertheless, nearly half of the existing cultivated area in the country is still under the mercy of erratic monsoons, which frequently result in potential yield and income uncertainties for farmers. In this regard, a research article published in August 23 RBI bulletin indicated that improving irrigation infrastructure could mitigate the adverse impact of deficit monsoons on crop output.

Limited scope for further expansion in area under cultivation

Considering the fact that the scope for further notable expansion in area under cultivation is limited and the crucial role of irrigation in increasing yields, it is imperative to expand irrigation for any further increase in food production in the country. In this regard, it is important to note that India has only 4% of the world’s water resources and is home for over 17% of the world’s population. Hence, there is an urgent need to devise measures to promote sustainable irrigation practices for efficient and judicious use of irrigation water from both groundwater and surface irrigation sources.

An overview of trends in various sources of irrigation since 1950-51 suggests that the significant increase in irrigated area is primarily on account of rapid growth in tube wells. The area under tube wells increased from about 0.1 million hectares in 1960-61 to 39.1 million hectares in 2022-23. Consequently, the share of area irrigated by tube wells increased from 0.55% in 1960-61 to 49.34% in 2022-23. Apart from tube wells, area under other wells also increased significantly from about 6 million hectares in 150-51 to about 10.6 million hectares in 2022-23.

As a result, the total area irrigated from groundwater sources increased to about 63% in 2022-23 from around 30% in 1950s, while that irrigated by surface water sources like tanks and canals decreased to about 25% from about 57% in respective periods.

Over-exploited ground water resources

Agriculture sector is the largest consumer of groundwater resources, accounting for 87% of the total annual groundwater extraction, which amounts to 209.74 billion cubic meters (BCM) as per the data from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). Continuous cultivation of water intensive crops like rice and sugar cane supported by free electricity and assured procurement at support prices has led to over-exploitation of groundwater in major producing states.

As a result, the extraction of groundwater surpassed its recharge substantially to the extent of about 165% in Punjab and 134% in Haryana, according to the National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India 2023 by the CGWB, Ministry of Jal Shakti. Further, the report also indicated that about 11.23% of total 6,553 assessment units in the country are categorised as ‘over-exploited’.

On the other hand, the area irrigated from surface water sources has witnessed mixed trends. The area irrigated through canals remained stagnant over a period, while that by tanks has declined over the period.

Total area under canal irrigation increased rather slowly from about 8.3 million hectares in 1950-51 to about 17 million hectares by the early 1990s and remained stagnant with downward fluctuations till 2018-19. Thereafter, canal irrigated area started rising to cross 19 million hectares in 2021-22. Nevertheless, the extent of area irrigated by canals declined from 39.78% in 1950-51 to 22.85% in 2022-23.

However, irrigated area under tanks, though increased from 3.6 million hectares in 1950-51 to 4.7 million hectares in 1964-65, has declined steadily in the subsequent period to reach about 1.5 million hectares in 2009-10. There was an improvement in the 2020s but, only marginally to 2.2 million hectares in 2022-23. The significant fall in area under tanks could be attributed to various reasons including increased unpredictability and deficit in rainfall, lack of maintenance, siltation, encroachment, etc.

Thus, the significant expansion in the area under irrigation during the past six decades or so has been largely from ground water resources. The progress in area under surface water sources was limited due to various reasons including increased unpredictability of monsoons and human intervention or lack of it.

In view of the rapidly depleting ground water resources and growing need for further expansion in irrigated area, there is an urgent need for requisite policy measures for ensuring adequate recharge of groundwater resources, revival and expansion of surface water resources like tanks and canals, promotion of watershed practices, etc., for sustainable use of water resources for irrigation.

Need to promote sustainable irrigation practices

Agriculture being the largest consuming sector of water resources, it is imperative to promote conservation of water with efficient and sustainable irrigation practices such as micro-irrigation. Micro-irrigation practice such as drip irrigation directly applies irrigation water directly to crop root zones thereby reducing losses through runoff, percolation and evaporation occur in tradition irrigation method.

Micro-irrigation has a potential to increase water use efficiency to an extent of about 75-95% compared to the traditional method of irrigation. To promote micro-irrigation and water use efficiency Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare implements Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) Scheme that subsequently became part of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). The scheme provides financial assistance to an extent of about 55% of installation cost for small & marginal farmers and about 45% for other farmers.

So far the PDMC scheme has covered an area of about 89.69 lakh hectare from 2015-16 to 2023-24. In this regard, the extension of PMKSY for 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of about Rs. 93,068 crore is a step in the right direction. Such efforts need to be strengthened further and implemented effectively.

In addition, it is vital to promote crop diversification at least for shorter intervals of one to three years from water intensive crops like rice and sugarcane to pulses and oilseeds with less water requirement in their cultivation. Despite a significant increase in minimum support prices for pulses and oilseeds during past five years, there is a limited response from farmers to shift from rice to pulses and oilseeds cultivation.

In order to promote such diversification, it is essential to ensure that farmers receive remunerative prices with requisite procurement process in the short-term, while addressing supply chain in efficiencies with the necessary marketing infrastructure and logistics in the long-term. Further, implementation of crop rotation or diversification needs to be staggered across different states so that the domestic supply of staple crops like rice will be adequate.

Coordinated efforts from both Centre and states are essential for the success of such diversification. Subsidies and incentives need to be reoriented accordingly to promote production of other crops like pulses and oilseeds.

A. Amarender Reddy is joint director, policy support research, ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (ICAR-NIBSM), Raipur.

Tulsi Lingareddy is a a senior economist, sustainable finance and agriculture. Views personal

Farmers in Punjab Carry Out Indefinite Blockade of Highway Over Poor Lifting of Paddy

Farmers accuse the AAP government in Punjab as well as the BJP-led Union government for pushing the state into an agrarian and economic crisis.

Jalandhar: Four days after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann assured the lifting of paddy from the state’s grain markets, farmers from various unions have alleged the poor lifting of the crop and on Monday (October 21) began an indefinite blockade of parts of an arterial highway.

Farmers primarily from Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Ludhiana districts on Tuesday blocked part of the Grand Trunk Road in the state’s Phagwara town and demanded the immediate lifting of their crop, which they said had been lying in grain markets for since October 1, when paddy procurement began in Punjab.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union or BKU (Doaba), the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) – which led the farmers’ protest for legally guaranteed minimum support prices (MSPs) at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana earlier this year – the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KSMC) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have supported the call to block the highway.

The protest left commuters travelling from Jalandhar and Ludhiana toward Delhi stranded on the highway for hours.

“We have called a meeting of all farmers’ unions tomorrow (October 23) at the Shambhu border to decide the next course of action,” Sarwan Pandher, who leads the KSMC and the KMM, told The Wire.

Farmers accuse the Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab as well as the BJP-led Union government of pushing the state into an agrarian and economic crisis.

A lack of storage space in godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has meant that rice millers have been unable to dispose of milled rice from last year, which has in turn made them unwilling to take on paddy from the state’s grain markets.

The state’s farmers are also concerned that delays in selling their paddy will in turn create delays in their sowing the wheat crop in the first week of November.

Trolleys have been parked along the highway in protest. Photo: Kusum Arora.

‘Punjab, Union governments left farmers with no choice’

Speaking to The Wire, BKU (Doaba) president Manjit Singh Rai said that as of Tuesday it had been 22 days since paddy procurement began but that tonnes of produce still lay dumped at farmers’ homes and in grain markets.

“We want to warn the AAP and BJP governments that if our crop is not lifted, we will block all of Punjab in two days,” Rai said.

He added: “Mann had promised to the SKM’s delegation that the paddy would be lifted within two days. We waited for two days and after noticing no action on the ground, have blocked the highway indefinitely. Farmers are shocked by the AAP government’s poor response. On the other hand, the BJP-led Union government has been giving stepmotherly treatment to Punjab. We will continue our protest until the paddy is lifted and farmers get their due.”

On October 19, a delegation led by SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal announced that they would stop their dharna outside Mann’s residence, which they began a day earlier, after Mann assured them that the lifting of paddy would begin within two days.

Rai also said he was aware of commuters facing problems because of the blockade, but reasoned that the AAP and Modi governments had left farmers with no choice.

“October is coming to an end. By now, paddy should have been lifted in the Doaba and Majha regions of Punjab. The Malwa region is next in line, where the lifting of paddy has just begun. Even as the basmati harvest is set to begin once the paddy is harvested, there is no solution in sight.”

Pandher targets Arvind Kejriwal over silence

Pandher while speaking to The Wire targeted AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for his silence over Punjab’s paddy crisis. He said that many farmers had always said that Kejriwal was hand in glove with the BJP-led Union government and with the saffron party’s ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

“We stand vindicated now. Kejriwal has proved that he is wearing khaki shorts [a reference to the Sangh’s dress code] and putting Punjab’s farmers in distress. Since Kejriwal is [the AAP leader] and has been running Punjab from Delhi, why is he silent now? He should speak up. In such a fiasco, either Mann should have rushed to Delhi and staged a protest for farmers’ sake, or Kejriwal should have come to Punjab. But both are missing in action,” he said.

Pandher also lashed out at the Modi government, accusing it of indirectly imposing the three repealed farm laws – which were taken back after months of protests in 2020 and 2021 – on farmers.

“We have been warning the Punjab and the Union governments that the root of law and order problems in Punjab has been agrarian crises. All farmer unions are together in this hour of crisis, and we will not let the Union government damage Punjab’s agrarian economy,” Pandher asserted.

BKU Doaba president Rai during the protest on Monday. Photo: Kusum Arora.

AAP MLAs, MPs criticised; farmers say they are suffering losses

Harjinder Singh, a farmer and arhtiya (commission agent) based in Jalandhar’s Phillaur, accused government officials of not lifting a variety of rice that the chief minister himself promoted.

“Punjab government officials told us that they would not lift rice of the PR 126 variety. The paddy procurement season is coming to an end, but only 20% of the crop has been lifted from grain markets. Mann should now tell us why the PR 126 variety, which he aggressively promoted, is not being lifted now,” he said.

Harjinder also said that while arhtiyas and millers rallied for the smooth procurement of paddy two months before harvesting season began, no local AAP MLAs or MPs met them. “The stakeholders could see the imminent crisis, but the AAP government failed to do anything,” he charged.

Navdeep Singh, another farmer, said that farmers were forced to sell their crop at distress prices as it was starting to weigh less from losing its moisture due to having lied in grain markets for many days.

He said farmers were being forced to bear losses worth five to ten kilograms. “Paddy’s MSP has been fixed at Rs 2,320 per quintal, but farmers are facing a loss of around Rs 100 per quintal at the hands of arhtiyas. Who will compensate for our loss?” he asked.

The farmer argued that the main problem was not PR 126 but of hybrid varieties that were sold by private companies at exorbitant prices.

“Was it not the Punjab government’s responsibility to check what kind of seed was being sold in the market? Had the AAP government kept a check over this malpractice, farmers would not have faced such a setback. Leave everything aside – the AAP government did not even inquire about the wellbeing of the farmers,” he said.

Notably, the Punjab Agricultural University-certified paddy seeds are sold at Rs 58 per kilogram, while hybrid seeds were sold at between Rs 300 and Rs 400 per kilogram by private companies.

Arhtiyas support protest

Speaking to The Wire, Arhtiya Association Punjab president Ravinder Singh Cheema said they had given four days to the Punjab government to start lifting paddy in the state but that this time had passed as of Tuesday. Rice millers were scheduled to meet the Union government on Tuesday, he also said.

Cheema said that farmers, arhtiyas and rice millers were holding protests at around 25 or 30 locations in Punjab. “Other than the [blockade] call given by farmers’ unions, it is a purely organic protest. Farmers are joining the protests on their own,” he said.

He said that even though Union minister of state for food processing Ravneet Singh Bittu assured that 212 freight trains would move paddy out of Punjab, there was no action on the ground.

“It is such a mess and none of the local AAP MLAs or ministers have visited grain markets to take stock of the crisis. Even deputy commissioners avoided any direct meeting with the farmers,” he alleged.

“Farmers, arhtiyas and rice shellers all are feeling left out in the cold. It is we, the stakeholders, who are running from pillar to post to ensure the smooth lifting of paddy,” he said.

Mann orders lifting of paddy on war footing

Mann on Monday chaired a meeting to review the procurement of paddy and directed officials to lift paddy on a war footing. Farmers should not be allowed to face any inconvenience at grain markets, he said.

Claiming that the Punjab government was committed to protecting farmers’ interests, the chief minister said that the distress sale of paddy in grain markets would not be allowed and that severe action will be taken against officers found responsible for it.

He also said that 2,651 grain markets had been set up across the state for the smooth procurement of paddy. Cash credit limits to the tune of Rs 41,378 crore for the 2024-25 kharif milling season had already been released by the RBI, and farmers were being issued payments on time, Mann added.

Mann then said that grain markets in the state recorded the arrival of 24.88 lakh metric tonnes of paddy so far, of which 22.22 tonnes had been procured. The food and civil supplies department had cleared Rs 4,027 crores for payments to the farmers, he said.

SKM questions budgetary cuts in food, fertiliser subsidies

Expressing concern over Punjab’s paddy crisis, the SKM alleged that it stemmed from the pro-corporate Union budgets aimed at dismantling the agricultural produce market committee (APMC) system, the public distribution system, MSPs and the FCI in one stroke.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the SKM’s leadership accused both the Mann government and the Union government for derailing paddy procurement in Punjab.

It highlighted that in the actual expenditure in 2022-23, the food subsidy was Rs 2,72,802 crore. In the revised estimates for 2023-24, the expenditure made was only Rs 2,12,332 crore, which was less than the 2022-23 actuals by Rs 60,470 crore.

In the 2024-25 budget, the subsidy is estimated at Rs 2,05,250 crore, which means a further reduction by Rs 7,082 crore.

Similarly, the fertilizer subsidy also has been slashed substantially, the SKM said. In the actual expenditure in 2022-23, the fertiliser subsidy was Rs 2,51,339 crore and in the revised estimates for 2023-24, the expenditure made was only Rs 1 88,894 crore – short by Rs 62,445 crore.

As per the 2024-25 budget estimate, the fertiliser subsidy is Rs 1,64,000 crore, which means a further reduction by Rs 24,894 crore.

On the lack of storage capacity in the FCI, SKM leaders said that the Union government dismantled the Central Warehousing Corporation, resulting in a large-scale reduction in storage facilities in the public sector.

“The FCI has also rented out its storage facilities to the corporate sector and to companies including the Adanis and the Ambanis,” they alleged.

The SKM warned both the Punjab and the Union governments that derailed paddy procurement will create unrest among farmers and frustrate all sections of society that had anything to do with the APMC system of procurement.

“We want to appeal to the farmers and workers across the country to stand in solidarity with the farmers of Punjab and Haryana in the path of struggle and protect the APMC system and the food security of the country,” its statement read.

An Increase in MSP Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Fair Price for Farmers

The increases in MSPs for various crops only cushion the inflationary blow and is far from getting farmers a “fair price”.

While announcing new minimum support prices (MSP) for the farmers, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently said, “Giving fair prices to farmers is the top priority of the government and today new MSP rates have been announced accordingly.”

So, let us examine whether the revised MSP rates actually translate into more money in the farmers’ hands.

But the basics first. The revised MSP for wheat is Rs. 2,425 per quintal compared Rs 2,275 from last year, that translates into a 6.59% increase.

The updated MSP for barley this year is Rs. 1,980, which was Rs 1,850 last year. The MSP for gram is Rs. 5,650, lentil (masur) is Rs. 6,700. Rapeseed and mustard were set at Rs. 5,990, and safflower at Rs. 5,940 Overall the increase range was from 2.41% to 7.03%.

The MSP for Barley saw the maximum increase of around 7.03%.

Increase in MSP doesn’t translate to fair price for farmers

Now lets us look at inflation. India’s consumer price index inflation rose to 5.49 per cent in September 2024. If we analyse the year on year inflation calculated on All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), it falls to 9.24% (Provisional) for September. Judging by this metric, the rural and urban areas have 9.08% and 9.56% inflation rate in September. In simple terms, inflation is more than the increase in MSP our government has proposed.

The increases only cushions the inflationary blow and is far from getting farmers a “fair price”.

So, has have a policy makers made a mistake? Not quite, as the government’s Commission of Agricultural Costs and Produce (CACP), which recommends MSP to the government, has already done an analysis and recommended to the government for all Rabi crops (which include all the crops mentioned above) a 5.3% increase from 2024-25 to 2023-24 in the composite input price index. This index collates costs from human labour to irrigation incurred in growing the crops.

Even if we look at the issue from Swaminathan formula (C2+50%) the prices of wheat should be Rs. 2,580, Barley Rs. 2,606.50, gram Rs. 6,993, masur. Rs 7,591.50 and mustard Rs. 6,441. As per its promise, if the government did implement the Swaminathan Committee report, wheat farmers would get an additional Rs. 155, barley farmers Rs. 625.50, gram farmers Rs. 1,343, masur farmers Rs. 1,166.50 and mustard farmers Rs. 791 per quintal.

As demonstrated, if we evaluate the revised MSPs with respect to general inflation trends, input cost price index and through the eyes of the Swaminathan formula its fails on the promise of the “fair price”.

At the best, the government is only trying to keep up with inflation trends, and encouraging the farmers for higher production especially in wheat and oilseeds. If we cancel out the inflation, the increase is barely 1.1% – 1.6% for two crops – wheat – 6.6% and barley – 7%, whereas for all the other four crops, the increase in MSP is much lesser than the increase in inflation.

Procurement is less than previous years

From the technical perspective, lets move to implementation. One must ask the question how many farmers get the MSP and for which all crops? During the current Rabi (2024-25) season, the government procured 26.6 million tonnes of wheat, benefiting 2.2 million farmers. This marks a decline in wheat procurement compared to the peak of 43.34 million tonnes in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2021-22.

Further, as per the report by the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), 2.2 million wheat farmers, 1,13,000 lentil farmers, 5,00,000 mustard farmers, and 15,409 gram farmers have benefited from the MSP in the ongoing RMS 2024-25.

In RMS 2022-23 and RMS 2023-24, 1.168 million and 1.029 million gram farmers benefited from the MSP, respectively. Currently in the 2024-25 RMS 28,28,409 farmers have benefited from the program. And even if we look at the previous rates, what percentage of our farming population actually gets the Rabi MSP?

While official statistics give contradictory answers, we must rely on the last Agriculture Census for 2015-16, that placed the total “operational holdings” in India at 146.45 million. Given ten years have passed and the COVID lockdown has pushed people back into farming, this number could be much higher. So it would be fair to say that “fair price” never reaches the majority of Indian farmers.

Corruption, commission are major challenges

Till now, we have only analysed facts presented to us by the government. Taking a closer look on the on ground procurement, it becomes clear that corruption eats heavily into procurement process too. The government procurement ( via FCI, co-operative societies, etc) is marred by commissions and corruption allegations.

Even states like Haryana, Telanagana, Karnataka, etc have reported procurement scams and corruption. As a result, the procurement system is not tight enough and leakage or manipulation directly change the money reaching the farmers’ pocket.

Farmers often report of backlogs at the centres or the fact that a hefty commission needs to be paid to just walk in the door of the godown. The majority of farmers who on paper receive the full MSP, are actually only getting it after paying commissions or undergoing “ extra some expenses”.

It is clear that despite proposed increases in the MSP each year, the full amount never reaches the farmers. For crops which are not procured by the government, the situation is more dire because the MSP price recommendation is overpowered by market trends. The only way out for the government to ensure “fair price” reaches its farmers is to clean up the procurement systems and also having a larger procurement program covering more crops including fodder crops using a non-recursive loan to procurement agencies like FCI, NAFED, state bodies, etc.

This way the expense to the treasury would also be nil and the probability of fair price reaching farmers would be much higher.

Indra Shekhar Singh is an independent agri-policy analyst and writer. He was the former director for policy and outreach at NSAI. He also hosts The Wire’s agriculture talk show, Krishi ki Baat/Farm Talks. He posts on X @indrassingh.

As Paddy Glut Pushes Punjab Towards Major Agrarian Crisis, Questions Over Mann and Modi Govts’ Delayed Response

Farmers, commission agents, millers and labourers have accused the Modi government of pushing its pro-corporate model in agriculture and destroying the robust APMC system.

Jalandhar: A major agrarian crisis following a paddy glut and poor lifting of the crop has left farmers, commission agents, rice millers and labourers frustrated with the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab and the Union government under Narendra Modi.

A paddy glut is when excess paddy is produced.

The lifting of paddy began on October 1, but even after a fortnight, only 3.73 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured by state agencies of a total of 4.57 lakh metric tonnes that reached mandis, as per records of the Punjab Mandi Board. Mandis are grain markets where paddy is procured. Out of the 3.73 lakh metric tonnes too, so far, only 20,000 tonnes of paddy have been lifted from the mandis.

Punjab is expecting a total of about 185 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this season. After this paddy is processed in the mills, it is expected to come to 125 lakh metric tonnes. However, a major chunk of last year’s roughly 130 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is yet to be lifted from warehouses and rice mills in Punjab.

On October 14, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann met Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi. Assurances of paddy procurement in this year’s kharif marketing season followed. However, farmers, arhtiyas (middlemen) and millers have gone on strike over the tardy lifting of paddy. Grain markets have been closed.

However, arhtiyas (middlemen) and millers have ceased work, and many grain markets have been closed.

Farmers have alleged that this was another attempt by the Modi government to push its pro-corporate model in agriculture, and to destroy the bond between farmers, arhtiyas and labourers as well as the robust Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) system in Punjab. All villages in Punjab are connected with APMC mandis.

The Mann government – itself facing farmers’ blame – has in turn blamed the Modi government too.

The opposition Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal parties have accused the AAP and the BJP for deliberately targeting Punjab as its farmers were at the forefront of the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest. Nearly all stakeholders are of the view that behind this crisis lies the pro-corporate policies of the BJP government, which they have been pushing in Punjab’s agrarian economy for the last four years.

Paddy lying in the open at a grain market on Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road. Tractors loaded with paddy are also lined up at the grain markets across Punjab due to poor lifting of the crop. Photo: Kusum Arora.

Millers in a fix

The foremost issue is the lack of storage space in Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns, where rice is kept after it is processed by Punjab’s rice millers. Every year, the Punjab government stocks paddy at rice mills following procurement. There it is milled and later, picked up by the FCI.

Rice millers in Punjab are already facing losses as last year’s milled rice is still in their godowns. Around 5,500 rice millers in Punjab are unwilling to take on more paddy for milling as a result.

Tarsem Lal Saini, president of the Punjab Rice Millers Association and of the All India Rice Millers Association, shared how godowns were choked with last year’s paddy that is yet to be procured by FCI.

“Had the AAP government taken up the matter of a paddy glut with the Union government on time, the situation would not have gone out of hand,” he said.

Saini also said that the Union government is yet to release around Rs 7,000 crore as part of the Rural Development Fund (RDF), which is generated from the state government charging a 3% cess on the procurement of food grains for the central pool.

“The entire system has been left to crumble. The RDF is used for the development of rural infrastructure like roads, buildings and the maintenance of grain markets. Both the Punjab and the Union governments are to be blamed for this crisis,” he added.

Around 36,000 kilometres of roads in Punjab’s villages lay broken, the Mann government has claimed in its petition to the Supreme Court in 2023 over the Union government’s release of RDF.

‘Farmers biggest losers’

Farmers said that the issue of lifting last year’s paddy crop should have been resolved by March 31 – or at the latest by May 31 – this year.

“Farmers are the biggest losers in this case. This is the first time in our lives that we are witnessing such poor lifting of our yield. The AAP government is squarely responsible for this mess. We have harvested around 70% of our paddy, but no procurement is taking place. Our trolleys are lying parked at our homes. We do not know when procurement will begin and when we will get paid,” said Jalandhar-based progressive farmer Jaskaran Johal.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which led the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest at the Haryana-Delhi border, is supporting the current agitation and has held meetings with various stakeholders. SKM leader and Kirti Kisan Union press secretary Raminder Singh Patiala termed this crisis as a corporate attack on the farming sector.

“The agriculture sector is constantly under attack from pro-corporate policies. The corporate sector has been keeping an eye on the grain trade and farmers’ land. Therefore, the current structure of APMC and the agricultural industry associated with this structure is their target,” he alleged.

As part of the protests, the SKM, along with farmers, arhtiyas, rice millers and labourers also held a chakka jam (roadblock) and a rail roko (a stopping of trains) on October 13, from 12 to 3 pm, across Punjab.

Farmers during chakka jam against poor lifting of paddy on October 13, 2024 at Lehragagga in Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s home turf Sangrur district, Punjab. Photo: By arrangement.

Protesters have announced a gherao of Mann’s and AAP MLAs’ residences on October 18 if their demands are not met.

Among their demands are the early lifting of paddy, 2.5% of MSP as commission for arhtiyas per quintal of paddy, increase in the payment to grain market labourers for lifting sacks of paddy from Rs 1.80 per quintal to Rs. 3.03, and compensation for the loss of Rs 300 per quintal for a particular variety of rice.

A commission, a small hike

In addition to their commission demand, arhtiyas are also against the FCI for not handing them their outstanding dues in the labourers’ Employees Provident Fund.

Speaking to The Wire, Ravinder Singh Cheema, president of the Arhtiya Association Punjab, called the current crisis an ‘undeclared strike’ in grain markets.

“We fear that the paddy glut will escalate in the coming days. Arhtiyas are suffering because of the Union government’s decision to provide a fixed price of Rs 46 per quintal in commission, as compared to the previous policy of offering a 2.5% per quintal commission under the APMC Act. With a 2.5% commission, we used to get a commission of around Rs 55 per quintal,” Cheema said.

“If the Union government does not accede to our demands, we will completely boycott the procurement process,” he threatened, adding to allege that the Union government has a different yardstick for Punjab.

On the other hand, the labourers employed at grain markets are also demanding a hike in their daily wage of Rs 1.80 per quintal for loading paddy onto trucks. They pointed out that the daily wage for this work has been Rs 3.03 in Haryana for many years and demanded that their daily wage be increased by Rs 2 per quintal.

Tractors loaded with paddy are either lying parked in the grain markets or in the houses of farmers due to poor lifting of the crop. Photo: Kusum Arora.

Mann says all is well

Mann has repeatedly come under attack from the farming community and the opposition for allegedly failing to act on time in handling this crisis.

However, after meeting Union minister Joshi, Mann claimed that the latter agreed to arrange for 120 lakh metric tonnes of paddy to be lifted and taken outside the state by March 2025. Mann also urged Joshi to ensure the procurement of at least 20 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains per month from the state till March 31, 2025.

In a statement, Mann highlighted the problems faced by millers and farmers. He also noted that the commission being paid to arhtiyas had not been increased in the last five years.

He said that while the MSP of crops is increased every year, arhtiyas are being paid between Rs 45.38 and 46 per quintal in commission since 2019-20, even though the APMC Act provides for a commission of 2.5% on MSP per quintal, which means a benefit of Rs 58 per quintal.

On the demand of commission for arhtiyas, Joshi told Mann that the Union government would consider this issue in its next meeting.

“Mann was just given 15 minutes to raise our issues with the Union minister. This shows the lack of seriousness of the Union government in addressing our woes,” said Cheema.

A combine machine during paddy harvesting at Salempur Masandan village in Jalandhar. Photo: Kusum Arora

Bajwa slams Mann’s policies

Leader of opposition in Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, addressed a press conference in Delhi and lashed out at Mann for allegedly pushing the state’s farming and economy into a mess.

Bajwa pointed out that while paddy procurement began on October 1, Mann went to Delhi to raise the paddy glut issue with Joshi only on October 14.

“Last year too, Punjab had faced this problem,” he said.

The senior Congress leader said that since all godowns were full to the brim, Mann should have met Modi and Joshi to sort out the matter at least six months ago. “Had the Punjab chief minister ensured the movement of at least 10-15 lakh metric tonnes of paddy per month, the problem of paddy glut would not have arisen,” he added.

Further pointing out that the stock of paddy will increase in grain markets in the coming days, Bajwa said this would pose further problems. “Rice needs to be stored in godowns because it gets discoloured, broken and loses moisture leading to losses. But the paddy yield was lying in the grain markets,” he said.

Farmers at a toll plaza on Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway during a chakka jam on October 13, 2024. Photo: By arrangement.

A controversial rice variety

Bajwa also targeted Mann for aggressively promoting the ‘PR 126’ variety of rice as it grows faster and would save water and electricity.

“Earlier, farmers used to sow other hybrid varieties, which used to grow in 110 to 120 days. Mann ensured that farmers sow PR 126, saying that it grows in 92 to 95 days, saving one month’s water and electricity. But when no scientific study was done, how could he claim this?” he asked.

On the issue of rice millers facing losses, Bajwa said that earlier, they used to get 67 kg of milled rice from one quintal of paddy, but that they now got only 60 to 62 kg of rice per quintal of PR 126 rice.

“The rice shellers are facing a loss of around five kg of rice per quintal, which means a loss of Rs 300 per quintal and a total loss of Rs 6,000 crore. Who will compensate for the loss of rice millers – Mann or the Modi government?” he asked.

Bajwa also lashed out at Mann for his statement that Joshi assured full procurement of rice by March 31, 2025. He said, “Even if the entire Indian railways and its carriages are pressed into service, milled rice cannot be picked by this date. It is simply impossible.”

Of arhtiyas’ protests demanding 2.5% commission per quintal, Bajwa said: “This seems to be a conspiracy of the Modi government to derail Punjab’s economy. The BJP has a huge grudge against Punjab’s farmers for their role in farmers’ protest. Their agenda is to ultimately sell paddy at depressed rates to private players like Adani, who already has three silos at Moga, Kathunangal in Amritsar and Raikot in Ludhiana,” he said.

How Much More Are Indians Going to Pay for Tomatoes This Diwali?

Each year, Indian markets have been trained to cushion inflationary shocks, but market volatility during the past couple of years has broken through the market resilience.

As the festival season approaches, Indians are headed towards a food inflation hurricane. As per the all India Consumer Price Index (CPI), annual retail inflation increased to 5.49% in September, much higher than the August figure of 3.65%. This is the highest retail inflation rate since December 2023, when it was 5.69%. Fuelling this rise is the unchecked problem of food inflation.

Food inflation rose 9.24% annually compared to a 5.66% rise in August. But these are the September figures. With the pending kharif harvests and rabi vegetables sowing in North India, tomato prices have started to rise exponentially again. In Delhi-NCR, tomato prices are now touching Rs 80-Rs 100 a kilo Whereas online retailers Country Delight are selling 900 grams of tomatoes for Rs 110 on a marked discount. The original listed price was Rs 220/900 grams.

Taking a look at the wholesale price, the Gurgaon agricultural produce market committee (APMC) saw tomatoes reach Rs 6,655/ quintal, whereas further north in Narwal, J&K tomatoes reached Rs 6,800 quintal. At Odisha’s Gunnupur APMC, tomatoes touched Rs 6,500 on October 14. Overall, tomato prices are seeing an upward trend through the country.

In Allahabad, the retail prices of the vegetable – a staple of Indian cooking – was around Rs 100/kg. Even the rural Allahabad trans-Yamuna region saw tomatoes reach Rs 80.

When we look at other staples in the Allahabad region, potato prices reached Rs 40 compared to an average of 20-25/kg while onions are selling at Rs 60 compared to an average of Rs 25-30/kg.

Going westwards, the Jaipur and Muhana APMC traded onions for a maximum price of Rs 4500/quintal, while the Gurgaon APMC had them at Rs 4,522 and Odisha’s Rahama saw prices reach Rs 4,000/quintal.

This supply lull is also part of the seasonal pattern, but nevertheless the spike is sharp and quite unusual. Each year, Indian markets have been trained to cushion inflationary shocks, but market volatility during the past couple of years has broken through the market resilience.

Why is this so? Hasn’t the government been watching the inflationary spikes? The answer is yes. But unfortunately the government has been ineffective in curbing food inflation. Reportedly, between June 2020 to June 2024, RBI figures indicate food inflation stood at an average of 6.3%.

Everyday food items like vegetables experienced about 10% inflation for over 22 months, pulses for 24 months, eggs for 15 months and meat and fish for 10 months. Even in Modi’s first term in 2015, dal prices touched Rs 200, yet the Modi government remained silent and let the country take the inflationary blow. Further, it moved to dismantle the laws that protected citizens against hoarding and market manipulation.

When we speak of staples like cereals, in the period between June 2020 to June 2024, cereals on an average experienced a near 10% inflation for nearly 15 months. Wheat prices until early this year were also very high. Consumers were paying up to 25% more for their roti. Of course, wheat prices were first rocked by the Ukraine-Russia conflict and then a series of bad harvests in the wheat belts. Complimenting our disaster tray was government mismanagement of food grain reserves and random export-import bans. All these factors led to wheat price volatility.

Also read: What Make in India Has Brought to India

The other major cereal, rice, had a similar story, with bad harvests in kharif due to adverse weather events and drought like conditions in August and October last year, adding up with flip-flop on rice export policies. These export bans caused a global shortage, harming medium traders and exporters throughout the country. Meanwhile consumers had to pay more for every morsel of rice.

Are farmers reaping the benefits of this prices rise and inflation? The straight answer is no. Let us take the case of tomatoes again. Farmers were getting as low a prise as Rs 3-5/kg for their tomatoes. Meanwhile tomato prices had touched Rs 200 in 2023. Other tomato growing belts experienced similar distress. One tomato farmer in Karnataka reportedly committed suicide due to low rates for tomatoes in 2023.

Meanwhile a paper by the RBI points to the great disparity in agriculture, where vegetable and fruit farmers get only 1/3 of the retail price, while dairy farmers get about 70% and meat and poultry farmers get 56% of retail prices. It was also said that tomato farmers get about 33%, potatoes farmers get 37%, whereas onion farmers get 33.5%. But this paper has been criticised for not being reflective of the true plight of the farmers. Questions have also been raised about the samples used to make the conclusions. Indeed, when we cross reference this data with rural consumption and farm incomes even in the potato, onion and tomato belts, we find an inconsistency. If this paper was 100% accurate, we would observably see better economic conditions, more rural consumption and higher mean farm incomes in these regions.

To conclude, flagship programmes to curb TOPs (Tomato, Onion, Potato etc) inflation, along with other agrarian and food policy have again been tested to reduce inflation, and perhaps failed. The direct impact of failed policies and food inflation is suffered most by the underprivileged. Malnutrition is rising each year, and its not only the Hunger Index that tells this tale. Urban and rural malnutrition has increased in the past four years, and the signs are clear on the faces of malnourished children. One only has to look beyond the veneer to see them.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

How a US-Based PR Firm Is Profiling Activists, Scientists Opposing Pesticides and GMO

A private social network created by the firm hosts personal details of over 500 individuals globally, including activists Vandana Shiva and ecologist Debal Deb.

Mumbai/ London/Athens: A US-based reputation management firm, which received funding from the United States government, is working to combat opposition to pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops by secretly profiling critics, both across the world and in India. This is revealed in documents obtained by the investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports and shared with The Wire and other international media partners.

The firm spearheading this work is Missouri-based v-Fluence Interactive, founded and run by a former Monsanto executive, Jay Byrne, who previously worked as a communications executive at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Since its creation in 2001, v-Fluence has provided a range of services including “in depth research, ongoing intelligence gathering, proprietary data-mining and analytics” to the global agrochemical and biotechnology industry.

The current investigation by Lighthouse Reports, in partnership with The Wire, uncovered that v-Fluence created a private social network that hosts profiles of over 500 individuals globally, including prominent Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, ecologist Debal Deb and other individuals including scientists and academics.

Access to the network is invite-only. Its members include agrochemical and biotechnology industry employees and allies from around the world, including India. This has raised concerns among some Indians profiled by v-Fluence about how their data might be used, highlighting potential risks to privacy.

Scientists also remarked how “critically profiling” activists and scientists is detrimental to scientific temper in a democracy like India, especially at a time when there is ‘general hostility’ towards civil service organisations.

In an email statement to Lighthouse Reports, v-Fluence founder Byrne said that the allegations of his network secretly profiling individuals who have spoken out against pesticides and their unregulated use are “grossly misleading representations” and “manufactured falsehoods”. v-Fluence also denied having held government contracts now or in the past, but said that the US government was a “funder of other organisations with whom we work.”

Corporate links

Documents obtained during this investigation reveal that the Missouri firm is profiling activists and scientists who have been vocal against pesticides and their unregulated use. Termed “Bonus Eventus”, the private, invite-only social network has a “wiki” with profiles of “stakeholders” that contains information of over 3,000 organisations and individuals including environmental advocates, scientists, politicians, civil servants, UN human rights experts and others who have criticised or opposed pesticides and/or GM crops.

The profiles even contain details of peoples’ private lives which are extraneous to their work, such as their home addresses and the value of their home. Many of the profiles also contain a “criticisms” section and are often derogatory in nature, citing articles often authored by people connected to the chemical industry.

v-Fluence also has links to corporate pesticide giants such as Syngenta which is currently facing a lawsuit in the US, with Byrne and v-Fluence as co-defendants. The lawsuit was filed by farmers with Parkinson’s disease who have alleged that their illness was caused by the company’s paraquat herbicide. They accuse Syngenta and v-Fluence of suppressing negative information on the dangers of paraquat, working to “neutralise” those who criticise it, and investigating the social media pages of people who reported injuries to Syngenta’s crisis hotline.

Also read: Of Magic Beans and Modified Mustard: How GMOs Will Destroy Indian Agriculture and Impact Health

Syngenta has denied the allegations. Syngenta said that they “do not support the claim of a causal link between exposure to paraquat and the development of Parkinson’s disease” when the authors approached it about the issue as part of the current investigation. The company declined to answer further questions as the issue is still under “active litigation”.

In a written statement to Lighthouse Reports and its partners, Byrne denied the allegations of the lawsuit, saying they were based on claims which were “manufactured and false”.

Paraquat, which is cheap and widely available, remains legal in India despite demands from campaigners and doctors to ban it because of its impacts on human health. In fact, a 2017 study from South India even recommended that the availability of this “highly toxic substance [paraquat] be restricted so as to prevent its misuse as a method of suicide”.

Every year pesticides kill thousands in India. In 2022 alone, the country reported 7,410 accidental deaths by pesticide poisoning according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Syngenta came under fire after the Yavatmal pesticide poisonings in Maharashtra in 2017. More than 20 farmers lost their lives after being exposed to pesticide poisoning. Farmers alleged that Syngenta had failed to provide sufficient information regarding the risks of its pesticide ‘Polo’. Syngenta, however, has maintained that there’s no evidence that its products caused this tragedy.

Privacy rights at risk

Shiva, who visited Yavatmal after the deaths in 2017, blamed the GM-crop Bt Cotton for the deaths. She said that the use of Bt Cotton led to more pesticides being sprayed on the crops. Shiva is one of the seven Indians profiled by v-Fluence.

The over 8000-word profile on Shiva, who actively advocates for seed sovereignty, describes her as an “ardent opponent of plant biotechnology”. It adds that Shiva opposes “even research field trials and supporting act of economic sabotage to destroy GMOs in the laboratories or in the fields”.

When informed about this, she wrote that she wasn’t surprised, adding that she has been challenging the “Poison Cartel’s war” for four decades.

Shiva’s profile lays out her biographical details, as well as personal information such as her email address, family members, registration details of her personal website, funders, speculative content about her sources of income and an extensive criticisms section including critiques by proponents of GM crops and biotechnology.

The profile claims that Shiva “reportedly commands high fees for her numerous annual speaking engagements” and that her “resources are likely significantly higher given reported activities (travel, sponsorships of major protests, running the Navdanya organic farm and education centre, etc.)”. It adds that such financial support “likely comes from a variety of sources that go to her various ‘non-profits’ or as direct payments to Shiva”.

Although the profiles include citations for most excerpts, indicating that the information is publicly available online, there are concerns about potential infringement of the individuals’ data protection rights under India’s yet to be implemented privacy law.

Also read: It’s Not Just Food Price, India Is Facing a Food Security Challenge

Technology lawyer and policy adviser Pranesh Prakash told us that India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDPA) does not apply to personal data that is “made or caused to be made” publicly available by the individuals whose data is processed.

On reviewing excerpts from a couple of profiles, he found that personal data was indeed being processed, as data collection itself qualifies as processing, and that much of the collected personal data was not made available by the person who was profiled, and thus the DPDPA applied to it.

He added that there was a “research purposes” exception, but that it does not apply if the data is being used to make any decision specific to any of the activists whose personal data has been collected.

“If the ‘research’ exception does not apply, then the processing of such personal data would not be lawful,” Prakash explains, except if “the personal data is processed with her consent.”

Another profile, of ecologist and seed conservator Debal Deb, states that he “has never worked for a corporate or at a ‘steady’ job”. It mentions that Deb is an “advocacy colleague” of Shiva. It also includes his residential address, personal email address, phone number and details of association with farming organisations in India.

“I don’t know what is up their sleeves,” says Deb, who also was not surprised. He said he has faced much more frightening actions against his work that threatened the safety of his mother and colleagues.

In a written statement, Byrne wrote that the private, community-edited wiki platform that provides information on topics and stakeholders referenced in our monitoring reports includes only “publicly available and referenced information”, asserting that, “Any contact or other information which may appear on the wiki is from public records and is used publicly by the source as part of their business or advocacy.”

‘Unacceptable and shocking’

While Shiva and Deb are accustomed this kind of pressure by opposition actors, there are other scientists who appear on v-Fluence’s repository, apparently solely because they signed a letter in 2013, to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, highlighting risks of genetically modified organisms (GMO) on food and farming systems in India.

A profile of Aninhalli Vasavi, a social anthropologist and independent researcher, briefly mentions her areas of advocacy and highlights that she was one of the 251 scientists who signed the 2013 letter. Following the recommendations of a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee, the signatories urged the government to halt GMO trials until regulatory gaps are addressed.

“That there is an organisational effort, to challenge criticisms against the pesticide industry, or the promotion of GMOs is both unacceptable and shocking,” says Vasavi.

Vasavi isn’t intimidated by it, but she finds the sharing of such information between companies to be concerning. She believes it could pose a threat to the participation of researchers like her in public discourse and raised apprehensions about how her personal data could be used.

Ecologist Sultan Ahmed Ismail is another scientist who signed the 2013 letter and is on the list of the Indians profiled by the firm. Ismail, who has worked with the Union government’s Department of Science and Technology, believes that while the company is entitled to its views, “critically profiling” scientists is wrong and “not a healthy trend”, and is detrimental to the development of scientific temper in a democracy.

“It’s business. So, they would try to silence people who are not in favour of them by causing a lot of disturbances, and creating problems for their work,” he adds.

The website also shows profiles of two Indian environmental organisations – PAN India, and Thanal, a Kerala-based non-profit association that promotes organic farming and biodiversity conservation.

Notably, PAN India – along with an association of Yavatmal victims, and other organisations – filed a complaint with the OECD against Syngenta in 2017, seeking compensation for affected farmers.

For Narasimha Reddy Donthi, an independent policy analyst and consultant with PAN India, monitoring of this kind by pesticide companies is not surprising. However, amidst a scarcity of funds and the general hostility towards civil society organisations in India, he notes that profiling can further restrict the scope of their work.

“We try to be more careful and not allow any room where they can use the long arm of the government to suppress our work or their voices. Even if they are profiling, it can be threatening. We try to be more objective, within the ethical and legal framework, so that our strength is not eroded by this profiling,” Donthi adds.

These concerns are not unfounded given that these profiles are made accessible to individuals who influence policy making and have access to public representatives in India.

Indian connections to v-Fluence and Byrne

v-Fluence’s private social network Bonus Eventus is accessible to over 1,000 members, based on invite, and includes executives associated with global agrochemical companies, lobbyists and government members. v-Fluence received funding support from the USAID for Bonus Eventus via the International Food Policy Research Institute. The sub-contracts are aimed at countering criticism of “modern agriculture approaches” in Asia and Africa, according to public records obtained by Lighthouse Reports.

In 2019, v-Fluence also arranged a stakeholder engagement training programme for members of CropLife India, an international association of agrochemical companies including Bayer and Syngenta among others. In the same year, CropLife India organised multiple events that were attended by several government officials and industry stakeholders.

Three years later, at the ‘India Chem 2021’ event, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with two government ministries, Byrne spoke as the President of v-Fluence, calling for “science-based regulatory policies” to tackle “spread of misinformation about banning a category of agrochemicals”. Byrne’s presentation highlighted how organisations like European Green Advocacy, Greenpeace and Pesticide Action Network posed challenges for India’s agrochemical industry, calling stakeholders to access “intelligence, stakeholder research”, and other resources on its Bonus Eventus network.

Among the eight Indians who have access to the Bonus Eventus portal is Raghavan Sampathkumar, the Executive Director of the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII). Sampathkumar, an agribusiness professional, has been working in the fields of GM crops, animal protein and agricultural trade while also engaging in policy advocacy and public relations outreach for agriculture enterprises. The FSII has ties to agro-industry companies and is involved in a project with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for deploying technologies to agro-ecological zones allotted for cotton production. We have reached out to Sampathkumar for his comments and will update the story as soon as we receive a response.

Another member is Anand Ranganathan, the consulting editor of the Indian right-wing magazine Swarajya. Ranganathan, who is a regular political commentator, has also worked with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) as staff research scientist. The ICGEB partners with the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Science and Technology, under the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, for supporting biotech research and development.

Ranganathan told Lighthouse Reports and The Wire that this was the first he was hearing of this network and that he has never been associated with it, or Byrne, who runs the network.

“Nor have I ever used their services, whatever they may be,” Ranganathan said in an email statement. He said that his name may have been included in the network without his “consent or knowledge” when he worked at the ICGEB 10 years ago. He also added that he had never knowingly received or opened any newsletters or emails from Bonus Eventus or v-Fluence.

“A pro-GMO PR firm tracked my pro-GMO views through my articles that I had written 10 years ago and included me in their network. I have never knowingly been part of any such organisation or effort, coordinated or otherwise. As someone who has always taken a firm stand against pesticide overuse and poisoning in Punjab that has led to plying of cancer trains, or against Union Carbide on the Bhopal genocide, I can never be part of unethical practices to undermine efforts, by activists or scientists or organisations that work towards human betterment and public good,” he added.

Ranganathan says that although he is pro-GMO, along with 107 Nobel laureates who are also pro-GMO, it doesn’t mean that he supports or endorses “any unethical and malicious practices or espionage against those who are anti-GMO”, he wrote.

“…absolutely not and quite the opposite. I wholeheartedly condemn any such malpractice. I have always wished for a healthy debate on GMO,” he wrote.

Other members include researchers and policy advisors from research institutes in India and agrochemical companies.

‘No liability’

The Yavatmal tragedy reignited conversation around regulating the sale of pesticides. The Maharashtra government constituted a special investigative team (SIT) to look into the case. They recommended immediate prohibition on the use of “highly hazardous” Monocrotophos, which was available at a cheap price and frequently sold to the affected farmers.

The state government then temporarily prohibited the sale, distribution or use of insecticides using formulations including Monocrotophos, and Diafenthiuron, a key ingredient in Syngenta’s ‘Polo’, alleged to have caused poisonings in several cases.

An examination of official police records by PAN India and others who filed the Swiss OECD complaint noted that at least 51 agricultural workers who used Polo, experienced adverse health impacts exhibiting breathing issues, gastrointestinal effects, blurred vision, temporary loss or reduction of eyesight and neurological symptoms among several other problems. However, the SIT report only mentions Monocrotophos and not Polo.

“We want to fix liability for pesticide poisoning on the company. In India, we don’t have a liability principle in-built into our pesticide regulation,” says Donthi of the Pesticide Action Network. He calls for periodic biosafety reviews – assessing the safe use of crop protection chemicals even after their registration.

Meanwhile, Syngenta Group CEO Jeff Rowe has called for faster regulatory approvals in India and plans to deploy 40 new crop protection products in the next two or three years. The group is also partnering with various government departments in several ways.

For instance, both Syngenta Foundation India and Syngenta India Pvt Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), India’s top scientific organisation for agricultural research, in July this year, to promote climate-resilient agriculture and training programmes. The move, along with ICAR’s MoUs with other corporates including Bayer, has resulted in experts raising concerns regarding the privatisation of Indian agriculture given the obvious conflicts of interest at work.

On September 2, visiting India for the first time, Rowe launched a new CSR initiative “I RISE” (Inculcating Rural India Skill Enhancement), that aims to train one lakh youth in rural India for jobs in agriculture. According to a media company that covers news pertaining to chemicals and petrochemicals, Rowe also “thanked” Syngenta’s “partners”, including state agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras – which are local agricultural science centres – for their “invaluable support”.

‘Misleading and manufactured falsehoods’: v-Fluence

In response to questions from Lighthouse Reports regarding the profiling of scientists and activists, v-Fluence founder Byrne said that the “claims and questions you have posed are based on grossly misleading representations, factual errors regarding our work and clients, and manufactured falsehoods”. In an emailed statement, Byrne also denied the allegations in the lawsuit, which he referred to as “manufactured and false”.

“Our scope of work that you are questioning is limited to monitoring, research, and trends reporting on global activities and trends for plant breeding and crop protection issues,” he wrote.

Public contracting documents obtained by Lighthouse Reports and shared with The Wire, show that v-Fluence received just over $400,000 as part of a contract with agricultural research organisation IFPRI, which manages USAID’s program to introduce GM crops in some African and Asian countries. The contracts, which operated between 2013 and 2019, were funded by USAID and included “enhanced monitoring” of stakeholders who were critical of “modern agriculture approaches”. Byrne denies having held government contracts now or in the past, but said that the US government was a “funder of other organisations with whom we work”.

Donthi characterised the USAID-backed efforts of a private firm like v-Fluence to profile individuals from a foreign country as an “overreach”. Vasavi said, “It’s troubling to see that companies would go to this extent to deflect and to avoid criticisms”.

She added, “I think it is here that the state needs to play a role to protect people like us. And if the state does not protect us, then it’s all the more alarming for us.”

Sarasvati Thuppadolla is a Reporting Fellow at Lighthouse Reports.

Margot Gibbs and Elena DeBre are investigative reporters at Lighthouse Reports.

This story, published by The Wire, is an investigation led by and in partnership with investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports, and other international partners: The Guardian, Le Monde, The New Lede, Africa Uncensored, The New Humanitarian, ABC News.

At Haryana Kisan Mahapanchayat, Farmer Outfits Urge Public to Not Vote for BJP in Assembly Elections

The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) announced a nationwide rail roko protest on October 3 and urged voters not to vote for the BJP in the Haryana Assembly Elections.

Jalandhar: Raising the pitch for a minimum support price (MSP) law and justice for farmers, the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) on Sunday (September 22, 2024) announced a nationwide rail roko protest on October 3 and urged voters not to vote for the BJP in the Haryana Assembly Elections.

The announcement was made at a kisan mahapanchayat in the grain market in Haryana’s Pipli, part of the Kurukshetra district. The mahapanchayat saw participation of thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh and was held at a time when the Haryana assembly election is just two weeks away.

Haryana goes to polls on October 5 while the counting of votes will be done on October 8.

This is the second kisan mahapanchayat organised by KMM in poll-bound Haryana. Earlier, a similar mahapanchayat was held at Uchana Kalan town of Jind district on September 15, 2024. However, apart from farmers’ demands, the kisan mahapanchayat at Jind remained in news for the alleged high handedness of the Haryana police.

Reports of the Haryana police blocking the highways leading to Uchana Kalan town, stopping the local gurdwaras from providing langar and drinking water facility for the farmers went viral on social media.

“The Haryana Police even threatened the local tent and sound system providers from giving the equipment to farmers and snapped power supply too to stop the mahapanchayat but we still reached there. We had a tough time reaching the venue in the humid weather”, recalled a group of farmers from Ambala district who were heading for Pipli mahapanchayat.

Sitting on protest at Punjab-Haryana’s Shambu, Khanauri borders and Rajasthan’s Rattanpura border since February 13, 2024, the KMM’s ‘Delhi Chalo’ morcha marked day number 223 of the protest on Sunday.

Notably, the farmers’ protest hit the national headlines when Haryana police blocked the Shambhu border with barricades, boulders and dug up spikes to stop farmers from entering national capital Delhi.

Later, the Haryana police resorted to the use of tear gas shells, pellet guns and drones against protesting farmers, which led to the death of a young Shubhkaran Singh and injured dozen others.

Till date, 33 farmers have lost their lives in the ongoing farmers protest while over 700 farmers had died during the previous farmers’ protest against the farm laws.

In the history of farmers’ protest, Pipli holds great significance, as it was here that the first kisan mahapanchayat was held on September 10^th, 2020 before farmers marched towards Delhi to protest against the three farm laws.

Farmers at the Kisan Mahapanchayat at Pipli, Kurukshetra, Haryana. The mahapanchayat was planned two weeks before the Haryana Assembly polls. Photo: By special arrangement.

Notably, during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, both BJP and Congress had won five seats each out of total the 10 parliamentary constituencies in Haryana. Terming it to be a tough battle for the BJP this time, the farmers said that the kisan mahapanchayat would affect the poll outcome in Kurukshetra, Ambala, Panchkula, Kaithal, Yamunanagar and the entire Grand Trunk (GT) Road belt starting from Chandigarh to Sonipat.

KKM leaders seek justice, urge people to oust BJP:

The KMM leaders termed the BJP’s policies as anti-farmer and pro-corporate and urged the voters in Haryana to think about what the BJP government did with the farmers in the past 10 years.

“For us, a real tribute to martyr Shubhkaran Singh would be if the BJP loses the Haryana assembly elections with a big difference”, said the KMM.

On the line of Lok Sabha polls, the KMM leaders also asked farmers and labourers to peacefully question and record the BJP leaders’ conversation over its anti-farmer policies and make it viral on social media.

“At the same time, we want to remind the farmers to avoid any violation of law during their interaction with the BJP leaders”, the KMM leaders said.

They also asked farmers to ask the congress that after coming to power, if they will open the Shambhu and Khanauri borders.

“It has been over seven months since both the borders were closed by the Haryana government. However, they blame us for the inconvenience caused to the public”, they added.

Talking to the media, Sarwan Singh Pandher, the president of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and leader of KMM said that they will play a key role in the defeat of BJP in Haryana and ensure justice for farmers.

“It is in this context that we have decided to hold a nationwide Rail Roko protest from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm on October 3, 2024. The Rail Roko would be held to demand justice for the Lakhimpur Kheri victims, who were mowed down by BJP’s union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra on October 3, 2021. We will continue to protest till the Lakhimpur Kheri victims get justice. Farmers should also question the BJP leaders and share their videos on social media so that people get to know their real face.”, said Pandher.

Addressing the farmers, BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh president Amarjit Singh Mohri targeted the BJP for befooling the farmers on Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme even as stray animals continued to destroy their crops and demanded handing over of shamlat deh or panchayat land to farmers.

“Our fight is for farmers’ rights. We are not fighting an intentional war with any party. Farmers will stand by those (parties) who will support them”, he added.

On the other hand, BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh spokesperson Tejveer Singh Panjokhra Sahib questioned the congress for not implementing MSP with C2+50 formula, also asking about the opposition party’s plan on farm loan waiver on the lines of Telangana and demanded action against Haryana cops for the killing of Shubhkaran Singh during the previous march to Delhi.

Scenes from the kisan mahapanchayat in Pipli, Haryana. Photo: By special arrangement.

Notably, the congress has promised legal MSP guarantee while the BJP announced MSP on 24 crops in Haryana.

“We want to know if the congress will initiate action against guilty police officials and open the blocked Shambhu border. Will the hapless farmers get any justice?” said Tejveer.

Apart from others, Pritpal Singh, who was allegedly picked up by Haryana police during the farmers’ Delhi Chalo call on February 21, 2024, put in a sack and beaten up mercilessly also attended the kisan mahapanchayat along with his family.

The families of Lakhimpur Kheri victims from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand also participated in the mahapanchayat.

‘Farmers’ stir likely to impact assembly election outcome’

Sociologist Dr Jitender Prasad, formerly of the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) Rohtak said that there was no denying the fact people were fed up with BJP’s attitude towards farmers and pro-people forces.

“The kisan mahapanchayat is a platform for farmers to express and demonstrate their sentiments against BJP’s high handedness. Apart from the demand for legal guarantee on MSP, farmers have been raising voices against injustice to farmers, unemployment, and inflation. Surely farmers’ issues will dominate the Haryana Assembly Elections”, he said.

“It is because of the farmers’ protest that people in the villages have also started questioning the BJP leaders. The farmers’ unions were expected to take a tough decision in this regard in the mahapanchayat and they have done so. This is likely to impact the assembly election outcome”, he added.

Prasad also underlined the role of Khap panchayats in the kisan mahapanchayat and said that they played a significant role in previous farmers’ protest too and even now they will be a deciding factor.

“The role of khap panchayats carries more weight on people’s mind, as sarpanches and panchayat members directly work under its influence. Moreover, the changed stance of khap panchayats with regard to women’s participation in farmers’ protest has also led to greater mobilisation of people at grass roots levels. This will certainly affect the poll outcome”, he added.