The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government has an ace up its sleeve as the ruling BJP fights anti-incumbency among the rural voters ahead of polling in the state assembly elections scheduled on November 28. The state government announced a bonus of Rs 500-per-quintal on two crops – soybean and maize – sold by farmers in the 2018-19 kharif marketing season. The announcement was made just a day before the Model Code of Conduct came into effect. The bonus – flat bhavantar, as it is called – is applicable on the crop produce sold in mandis in the period between October 20 and January 19. This means that the bonus will only be payable after January 19 by when the voting would be over and a new government would take the office.
Calling it an indirect form of blackmailing, Kedar Sirohi, the working president of the opposition Congress party’s kisan cell in the state, said that Chouhan is basically telling farmers to vote for him as there is no guarantee that a non-BJP government will give extra bonus of Rs 500/quintal.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a farmer from Abgaon Khurd village of Harda district and tehsil, Dhiraj Rajput said he understands that it is an inducement and only the next elected government will implement it. He added that since the general elections are also due in April-May, even a Congress government will have to give the Rs 500/quintal flat bhavantar.
On Tuesday, Dhiraj sold 19 quintals of soybean harvested from his holding for Rs 3,225 per quintal, a price well below the Centre’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 3,399.
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As many as 11.82 lakh farmers growing soybean on 26.09 lakh hectares and 3.25 lakh cultivating maize on 5.42 lakh hectare have been registered under the state government’s flat Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY) for the current marketing season. A total of 9.22 lt of soyabean and 4.25 lt of maize had already been sold across 257 mandis of MP under the scheme, as on October 16.
Further, authorities in the State agriculture department expect cumulative sales of 29-30 lt of soybean and 14-15 lt of maize when the scheme closes on January 19 next year. At the proposed rate of Rs 500/quintal, the total payout of farmers would work out to roughly Rs 2,250 crore, with the next government having to foot this bill.
Following agrarian protests against the falling crop prices that took a violent turn with police open firing on farmers at Mandsaur in early June last year, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had launched BBY in October 2017 and the scheme was initially a price deficiency payments scheme. Under the scheme, the farmers were paid the difference between the government-announced MSP for any crop and its corresponding average modal (most-traded) rate at mandis during a particular month. Assuming the MSP to be higher, this price difference, was credited directly into the Aadhar-seeded bank accounts of farmers, based on the actual quantity sold by them in mandis. That, in turn, was backed by documents such as weightment slip and payment receipt and matched with the farmer’s land record details, Aadhar number, Kisan code and mobile number.
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According to the report, the state government made BBY payments of Rs 1,952 crore to farmers during the 2017-18 kharif marketing season. The payments included Rs 1,144 crore on urad (black gram), Rs 425 crore on soyabean, Rs 315 crore on maize and Rs 55 crore on arhar/tur (pigeon-pea).
The BBY scheme was also implemented on sales of garlic (for the period from April 10 to May 31, 2018 against an MSP of Rs 3,200/quintal) and onions (during May 16-June 30 and August 1-31, 2018, against an MSP of Rs 800/quintal), with payments totalling Rs 549.89 crore and Rs 309.40 crore, respectively.
Moreover, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led MP government unveiled ‘Mukhyamantri Krishak Samruddhi Yojana’ for the 2017-18 rabi wheat, chana (chickpea), masur (lentil) and rapeseed-mustard crops.
Under this scheme, farmers selling wheat during the period from March 15 to May 26 were given at Rs 265/quintal bonus, which was over and above the Centre’s MSP of Rs 1,735, with a similar flat Rs 100/quintal rate on the other three crops marketed after April 10. The payments for crops amounted to Rs 2,259.46 crore for wheat, Rs 159.14 crore for chana, Rs 23.22 crore for masur and Rs 12.28 crore for rapeseed-mustard.
“Flat Bhavantar – a misleading term”
The “farmer-friendly” schemes of the MP government, however, received criticism from various farmer circles. Asserting that “bhavantar” means price difference, Sirohi said that the term “flat bhavantar” being used for the promised Rs 500/quintal payment on the currently marketed soybean and maize crops was misleading.
The price difference could only be between a fixed MSP and lower market rates, which keep on changing, he stressed, adding a flat bhavantar is nothing but an alternate way of naming bonus. The notification of October 5 states that a flat bhavantar of up to Rs 500 per quintal will be given, which makes it all the more confusing. The intent is to escape liability of implementation after polls, while giving false promises now, he claimed.
On the other hand, direct payments – call it bhavantar, flat bhavantar or bonus – along with the insurance claims worth Rs 5,260 crore paid to around 17.5 lakh farmers in MP (under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) for the 2017-18 crop year have provided Shivraj Singh Chouhan points to counter the Opposition.
Will these points be enough to drive out the ghosts of Mandsaur? This will only be known on November 28 when the election results will be announced.