Even in the COVID lockdown, when the country had literally come to a stop, grain procurement in Punjab was seamless. Now for the 1^sttime in living memory, Punjab is suffering from mishandling of paddy procurement, which is a testament to the unprecedented collapse of the state administration. In absolutely bizarre turn of events; farmers are supporting Arthia’s and millers, the very set of businesses that fleece them. Till about 15 years ago, it was normal to see farmer unions protesting Arthias’ monopolistic behaviour and unfairness. Arthia provides the credit and is the sole agent through who the farmers are compelled to sell their grains. The tables have now turned, the smart-playing Arthias having successfully courted farmer union leaders. This is a telling indictment of either their integrity or the judgement.

It is vital to distinguish causes from symptoms, before seeking the cure, given that politicians refuse to act on the nature of the disease, which is why cure is elusive. The state incentivising farmers to grow a particular paddy variety that the millers refuse to mill. The department officials take neither the farmers nor the millers into confidence. Unapproved paddy variety seeds openly being sold in the market. Poor extension services to educate farmers. Counter claims of high percentage of broken rice in the milling process. Transporters refusing to shift grains. Food Corporation of India not transporting grain to consumption centres and clearing of storage space in time. These are symptoms of misgovernance and incompetence at the tehsil, district, sub-national and at national levels. The thing about incompetence is that it turns up in almost every field, especially amongst the leaders and the administrators. One needs to better understand how to reduce this weaponizing of incompetence not least because those most affected often don’t have the resources or understanding of the subject themselves.

The Minimum Support Price for paddy is Rs. 2,350.00 per quintal is fully paid by the central government as is the milling cost. But practically farmers are receiving about 4 – 8% lower MSP for their paddy, thanx to the illicit demand of the millers, facilitated by the Arthia associations. Many farmers are forced to resort to mixing different grades and varieties of paddy to offset the losses and are delivering paddy to the mandi which has a higher moisture content. The FCI not accepting paddy with higher moisture content sets off the vicious cycle of problems and opens the space for political one-man-ship.

What is the big picture? The annual procurement of paddy from Punjab is about 185 lakh metric tonnes & worth about Rs.43,500 crores. Conservativity presuming that a 6% charge is illegally imposed on farmers for only half of the procured produce; it amounts to a whopping Rs.1,300 crores per season. Everyone is on the take; the Arthia, the miller, the procurement agencies and the administration. This is a money laundering activity, a fit case of the enforcement directorate to investigate.

This crisis is partly due to the fact that The Punjab Mandi Board and its market committees which regulates the mandis, unlike before are nominated with political patronage of the ruling party in the state, as are the Arthia associations which control the happenings in the mandi. It is absolutely vital that majority of the members of board and the marketing committees are elected to their positions. Additionally, 3 existing laws should be implemented in spirit; (1) Truck unions are banned by law, but continue to flourish. This increases the cost of transportation, cost of procurement of grains by FCI, cost of consumer goods & fuels food inflation. Politicians or ‘halka-incharge’ as they are called in every MLA constituency in Punjab gets a share is pretty common knowledge. (2) The Punjab Registration of Money-lender’s Act, 1938 mandates that moneylenders &Arhtiashave to register and disclose their accounts fairly. One seriously doubts if any District Collector, the point person responsible has even read the act. (3) Similarly, there is The Punjab Settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act, 2016, whereby once the debtor has paid double the principal amount, the debt will be considered paid and discharged.

These and other channels of grievance redressal like Gram Sabhas have been clinically nullified by politicians. Curiously farmer union leaders are silent on the real issues. The ineffective grievance redressalmechanisms prompt farmers to turn to unions to take up their cause, as they should. Farmer Unions like political parties, too are competing amongst themselves for space.Which in turn makes union leadersto look for populist palliatives rather than long-term solutions. When Farmers in Punjab close highways, squat on railway tracks, make toll plaza free and support issues unrelated to their profession, the media and society wrongly conclude that farmer union have become contrarians. This is an incorrect perception because a contrarian is not one who always objects. That’s a conformist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently and does not conform to oppose at every turn. Thus, farmer protests have lost the support and sympathy of the non-farming classes.More worrisome is that a large percentage of the country hasnow become indifferent. If outcomes are to change, so must behaviour. This must be true in policy and for farmer advocacy.

A myth being flouted to distract the attention of the farmers from the real issue is that paddy procurement at MSP will end. The fact is under the Modi government, the numbers of farmers benefitting from MSP has risen fifty percent and procurement has increased to include more crops and regions than before. Having absurdly promised free grains to 800 crore people for 5 years, there is no way the PM could end MSP procurement even if he wanted to. This is especially so after the ruling party won only 240 parliamentary seats at the hustings, changing the trajectory of politics in the country. As in the ripening of grain, time is a factor, and this crisis too has been a long time in the mak­ing; Akali Dal and the Indian National Congress having ruled Punjab for decades, are equally answerable for the chaotic times.Aam Admi Party hasonly perpetuated the blasphemous state of affairs. Its Delhi durbar controlling the strings and the administration in the state has made the Chief Minister pick the wrong battles. But after being at the helm for two years, the Chief Minister should have known which bridges to cross and which to burn.