By Neeraj Mishra
The two major contesting parties, the BJP and the Congress, have announced a flurry of sops in their Chhattisgarh manifesto. The primary aim is to woo farmers, the largest chunk of voters. So, when the BJP announced they would procure paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal, the Congress upped it by stating in its manifesto that they would pay Rs 3,200. Both promise to acquire 20 quintals of paddy per acre against 15 quintals being acquired currently.
Now, therein lies a catch of the magnitude of Rs 10,000 crore. The Congress has been paying Rs 500 as “bonus” for the past five years over and above the procurement price or the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Government of India. For instance, the MSP last Kharif season was Rs 2,050. So the Bhupesh Baghel government paid Rs 2,550 but the Rs 500 bonus offered by state government is paid in four instalments. This has caused an additional cash burden of Rs 5,000 crore on the state exchequer.
The BJP, which had refused to pay bonus above the MSP in 2018, has fallen in line. It has sensed that the farmer in Chhattisgarh will now not accept anything less than Rs 2,700 per quintal while the MSP stands at Rs 2,150 this season. So gone are the days of MSP in Chhattisgarh while farmers from Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh etc continue to struggle to get even their MSP rate and cash in their accounts on time.
It will indeed be very difficult for either party to stick to their procurement price promise. It will not only mean nearly Rs 1,000 over and above the MSP, but the quantity of procurement will go up by at least 25 per cent. Chhattisgarh had procured a little over 1 lakh tonne paddy last season at 15 quintals per acre. If as promised, the state has to acquire 20 quintals per acre then the total quantity will easily surpass 1.25 lakh tonne even at the current rate of procurement. This will add more burden on the state exchequer and it remains to be seen if the Central government is willing to shell out money for its share of extra rice. So far it has dilly-dallied over it.
As far as the farmer is concerned, he is not unhappy over getting his due share. At the same time, his expectation from the state have been raised which neither party wants to disturb. The farmer expects full procurement at higher MSP and also loan waiver. Last time, the Congress had promised a loan waiver scheme but had granted it with conditions. The primary condition was that only loans taken from cooperative banks would be waived. So while loans worth Rs 9,000 crore were waived, more than 13 lakh farmers with outstanding loans in the region of Rs 16,000 crore still suffered. This time too, smart farmers had taken loans in the expectation of waiver in an election year. The Congress has promised to waive loans but the BJP has kept mum on the subject.
Eventually will this MSP and loan waiver game make a difference? Will the farmer choose the one who deposits more in his pocket? Only time can tell but every farmer is also a Sahu or Kurmi or Yadav and eventually all things being equal, he will vote his caste. At least that’s what both parties are hoping with their MSP playbook.