Dr. Vikram Singh
When discussing any country’s agriculture, two key aspects emerge prominently. First is the food security of the nation, which encompasses the production of food for all of its citizens and the accessibility of a healthy diet for all. The second aspect involves the living conditions of the workforce engaged in agriculture.
Navigating Food Insecurity
India, once reliant on food grain imports, has become self-sufficient over the past seventy years. Farmers, agricultural workers, and the scientific community have worked tirelessly to achieve this status. Despite limitations and regional imbalances, the Green Revolution has helped the country overcome significant challenges. India has addressed the issue of productivity, though at the expense of soil health and sustainable development. The Food Corporation of India has established necessary buffer storage for food grains, enabling the nation to respond to adverse environmental, social, and political changes that could negatively impact production.
However, it is crucial to note that this aspect is now under threat due to the pursuit of neoliberal economic policies. The withdrawal of the state from the procurement of agricultural produce and the promotion of free market practices are reversing the conditions that fostered self-reliance in the government sector.
As of this writing, a new situation has arisen in Punjab, where paddy is not being procured from farmers. The procurement process, which typically begins on October 1, is proceeding at a sluggish pace this year. The primary reason for this slowdown is that the Central Government has not lifted paddy or rice from warehouses in Punjab. According to media reports, only 700,000 tonnes of rice have been lifted, while 12 million tonnes remain stored. Estimates suggest that nearly 18.5 million tonnes of paddy will arrive at mandis this year, raising the urgent question of where to store this surplus. The result will be a decrease in overall procurement of paddy, directly impacting both farmers and consumers.
Hunger Amid Abundance
Why is it that, while India produces sufficient food grains, many citizens are still grappling with hunger, undernutrition, and malnutrition?
India is a classic example of a country that, despite achieving food self-sufficiency, faces widespread hunger and malnutrition. This brings us to the critical issue of accessibility to safe and healthy diets for Indian citizens. Why is it that, while India produces sufficient food grains, many citizens are still grappling with hunger, undernutrition, and malnutrition?
Various studies, including multiple rounds of the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), reveal alarming levels of undernutrition in India. The latest NFHS report indicates that a third of Indian children under five are stunted, and two-thirds are anaemic, highlighting serious issues related to child undernutrition and mortality. These indicators are fundamental for assessing a country’s performance on the Global Hunger Index (GHI), released by a consortium of international organizations, including Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe, and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict. India’s GHI ranking for this year is 105 out of 127 countries.
This troubling situation stems from a policy crisis fostered by successive central governments, particularly under the BJP regime, which seems intent on transferring the entire agricultural and allied sectors to corporations and large agribusinesses.
Ending hunger, food insecurity, and all forms of malnutrition is one of the Sustainable Development Goals set to be achieved by 2023. While food insecurity often leads to undernourishment and hunger, the underlying issue is the lack of purchasing power for adequate food. The cost and affordability of a healthy diet (CoAHD) have risen significantly in recent years, peaking at an average of 3.96 percentage.
According to a study published in The Hindu, the cost of a healthy meal has increased by 52% in October 2024 compared to the same month last year, while average wages have only risen by 9-10%. This stark disparity illustrates how the current capitalist system is leaving citizens hungry, despite India producing sufficient food grains. Given the Indian government’s neoliberal economic policies—focused on generating significant profits for corporate allies—it seems increasingly impossible to achieve the goal of zero hunger worldwide by 2030. One key solution is to regulate food prices and reduce the share of food expenditure in total household spending, making healthy diets universally affordable.
The plight of Indian peasantry
Now, let’s turn to the most crucial segment of the agrarian sector: the producers—the farmers and agricultural workers. Their lives are the true indicators of the agrarian crisis in India. According to the 2011 census, half of the rural workforce, approximately 263 million workers, is engaged in agriculture. Of these, there are about 118.6 million farmers and 144.3 million agricultural workers.
The recent “All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2021-22,” conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, reveals that 57% of rural households still depend on agriculture. However, income from agriculture is insufficient for the survival of these families, with only one-third of the monthly income of agricultural households derived from cultivation; the remaining two-thirds come from other wage earnings.
The plight of Indian peasants is evident and requires no elaboration. The distress in agriculture has led to significant debt and a tragic rise in farmer suicides. Society, influenced by market forces, seems increasingly insensitive to these tragedies, with the number of suicides climbing each year.
Between 1997 and 2022 (the most recent year for which data is available from the National Crime Records Bureau), nearly four lakh people in the farming sector took their own lives. The second term of the Modi government proved particularly disastrous for farmers. In 2019, 10,281 farmers and agricultural laborers committed suicide, a number that rose to 10,677 in 2020, 10,881 in 2021, and 11,290 in 2022. An emerging and troubling trend from the NCRB data is that suicides among agricultural labourers—those who rely on daily wages from farming activities—outnumber those of farmers and cultivators. For instance, in 2022, of the 11,290 people involved in farming who died by suicide, at least 53% (6,083) were agricultural labourers.
Continuing policy attack by the newly elected BJP led NDA Government
After the last Parliament elections many observers speculated that the central government would not act against farmers’ interests, at least not in a way that would be overtly visible. However, these assumptions were quickly dispelled after the formation of the government when Shivraj Singh Chouhan was appointed as the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, under whose regime six farmers were massacred in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh on 6th June 2017 while they were protesting for a fair Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 50% with guaranteed procurement for all crops, as well as a loan waiver and an end to farmers’ suicides.
The Continuous Denial of C2+50% Minimum Support Prices
As far as remunerative price is concerned Modi led NDA Government is yet again resorting to lies and deceit on the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of Kharif crops (announced in the month of June, 2025) by claiming that it is 50 per cent more than the cost of production. In fact the announced MSP of Kharif crops are based on A2+FL+50% formula which are way below C2+50%. In a misleading manoeuvre, the Information and Broadcasting Minister declared that the MSP for Kharif crops is set at 1.5 times the production cost. The corporate media swiftly embraced this assertion, promoting the government’s narrative without any critical scrutiny. In reality, it starkly contrasts with the 2014 election promise to adopt the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation of C2+50%.
The farmers have to incur huge losses with these MSP rates. Take the examples of paddy and cotton. Government has announced MSP for paddy at Rs.2,300/Qtl but it comes to be Rs.3,012/Qtl as calculated as per C2+50% formula following the cost estimates of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). It means farmers are at the loss of Rs.712/Qtl. Considering Paddy production in Haryana in the year 2024-25 akin to the year 2023-24 that was 54.1 lakh tonnes, the loss suffered by the paddy farmers of the State amounts to Rs.3851.90 crore. Similarly, the announced MSP by the Government for cotton is Rs.7121/Qtl but as per C2+50% it comes to be Rs.9345/Qtl. That is, a loss of Rs.2,224/Qtl.
Central Budget for corporatization of agriculture
The first Union budget of the newly elected central government clearly paves the way for further centralization and infringement of the federal rights of the states, while driving the corporatization of agriculture to maximize the profits of predatory agribusinesses. The allocation for agriculture and allied sectors as a percentage of the total budget has steadily declined from 5.44% in 2019 to just 3.15% currently. This marks a 21.2% reduction compared to the allocations for agriculture and allied activities in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Additionally, there has been a significant decline of approximately 24.7% in the allocation for crop husbandry. Funding for fertilizers has also been reduced by about 34.7% compared to the previous year, totalling a cut of ₹87,238 crores. These significant reductions are likely to adversely impact agricultural productivity.
Corporate Control in the name of Digitisation
The agrarian policies of the current NDA regime are heavily influenced by extreme free-market ideologies. As part of a well-thought-out plan for the corporatization of agriculture, the BJP-led Union Cabinet decided on September 2, 2024, to launch seven new schemes, with a primary focus on the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), which has a total outlay of nearly ₹14,000 crore for the agriculture and allied sectors. The majority of Indian farmers are small, marginal, landless, or tenant farmers. If these farmers become integrated into business-driven digitalization, predatory corporations could dominate agricultural production, jeopardizing the livelihoods of the peasantry.
Corporatisation of Agricultural Research
The Union government’s inclination toward free-market policies is evident in the recently announced scheme for “modernizing” agricultural research. This initiative is set to align agricultural research with the extremely neoliberal New Education Policy (NEP), which will likely lead to further reductions in public investment and an increased influence of digital and agricultural corporations in shaping the research agenda for Indian agriculture. This development must be considered in the context of the large-scale entry of multinational corporations, such as Bayer, Syngenta, and Amazon, which have signed agreements with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Additionally, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s declaration in her 2024-25 budget speech, offering public funding for private research under a competitive framework, underscores this shift. It may compromise with the food security of the nation.
Policy Assault on the Right to Work for Rural Communities Continues
The neo-liberal policy not only views MNREGA as unnecessary but also as an obstacle to the so-called progress of the country. This stance reflects the insensitivity of the BJP-led government and is likely to worsen rural distress and accelerate migration from rural areas.
MNREGA provides a big relief through work opportunities for rural populations, particularly agricultural workers and small farmers, in a crisis-ridden agrarian economy. Despite its proven importance for the livelihoods of the rural poor and the overall rural economy, the Modi-led NDA government continues to undermine the scheme. The recent budget allocation for MNREGA remains unchanged at ₹86,000 crores, of which ₹42,000 crores had already been spent (including pending dues) by July 2024. This leaves only ₹44,000 crores for the remaining eight months of the fiscal year.
Most of the work carried out under MNREGA focuses on land development, water conservation, agriculture, and related activities, all of which positively impact farming. The Economic Survey 2022-23 of the Government of India confirms that MNREGA has a positive effect on household income, agricultural productivity, and production expenditure. However, the government remains committed to its neo-liberal agenda, disregarding ground realities. The neo-liberal policy not only views MNREGA as unnecessary but also as an obstacle to the so-called progress of the country. This stance reflects the insensitivity of the BJP-led government and is likely to worsen rural distress and accelerate migration from rural areas.
Attack on cattle economy
Attacks in the name of cow protection (Gauraksha) have risen significantly under the BJP-led central government. The atmosphere of hatred fostered by the BJP’s election campaign has intensified assaults on minorities including involved in cattle trade, which is a vital part of India’s agrarian economy.
The cattle economy contributes 27% of the income for farming households, and India is the second-largest country for beef exports. Attacks on cattle traders and workers disrupt the cattle trade, leaving farmers unable to sell their animals at remunerative prices. The newly elected Parliament has not addressed the urgent demand to enact a law to prevent mob lynching and hate crimes committed in the name of cow protection. There is also a pressing need for fast-track courts to expedite trials and convictions, ensuring the protection of the interests of cattle farmers, traders, and workers in the industry.
Overall, the current trajectory of the central government reflects a continuation of the pro-corporate, anti-farmer policies seen during the two terms of the Modi administration.
Serving the Class Interests
It is commonly believed that increased agricultural production leads to higher incomes for farmers. However, this is not the case in India. While overall production has risen, the relative incomes of farmers and agricultural workers have not seen corresponding increases. The class interest of ruling class has diverted the dividends of progress in agriculture sector for maximisation of their profits. Along with traditional landlord, the corporate loot in agriculture has increased manifold. The entire process of agriculture from input to post harvest value addition is heavily privatised. The monopoly capital in the form of big agri-business houses is controlling all sections from seed, fertilisers, agriculture implements, storage houses to controlling market for both procurement of agriculture produce and processed food items. These monopolies are manipulating markets to control input costs (increase) and lowering costs of agriculture produces, resulting in siphoning off the surplus produced in agriculture sectors.
In the coming days, we can expect increased government-backed intervention of private capital in agriculture. India is rightly concerned about the sustainability of its agriculture to ensure food security for future generations, but the livelihoods of its peasantry must be secured. For this we need to resist the state support for corporate policies in agriculture.
Impact on Students
The agrarian crisis and the corporatization of Indian agriculture are impacting society as a whole, and students are no exception. The undernourishment of children directly affects their health and learning outcomes. The dilution and circumvention of the Essential Commodities Act, which leads to rising prices, have a direct impact on the quality and affordability of mid-day meals and hostel food. Students from peasant families are particularly affected by their families’ income struggles. The implementation of the New Education Policy, along with the commercialization and centralization of education, has resulted in significant fee increases, making it increasingly difficult for students from low-income agricultural backgrounds to continue their education. They are facing a dual challenge: reduced family incomes and rising living costs combined with escalating educational expenses. The burden of debt-both from agricultural loans and education loans—is making life unbearable for many, driving some to the tragic decision of suicide.
Struggle is the only solution
As highlighted earlier, the current government seems indifferent to the concerns of the agricultural community, and this disregard extends to students as critical issues within the education system are often overlooked. Instead, the interests of corporate allies who profit at the expense of students and their families are prioritized. Under the leadership of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), students have played a significant role in the historical struggles of farmers. Students across the nation have actively supported the farmers’ movement. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha and the joint platform of central trade unions have included the demand to scrap the New Education Policy (NEP) in their charter. This indicates that we can expect more joint movements, alongside independent actions, focused on issues of agrarian crisis, food security, and opposition to the NEP. Our experiences show that struggle is the only effective way to combat the Hindutva-corporate nexus in India. The peasants of India have a glorious history of resistance, and so does the legacy of the SFI.
Dr Vikram Singh is the Joint Secretary of the All India Agriculture Workers Union and former General Secretary of the Students’ Federation of India.