The three-day Chintan Shivir at Udaipur resulted in the Congress party offering unprecedented sops to farmers and agriculture sector. Senior party leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was tasked with framing the policies for this sector, spoke to Shahid Faridi about the state of agriculture and the practicality of his party’s promises. Excerpts:
The Congress held the Udaipur Chintan Shivir after losing a series of elections against the BJP. What is the big idea that has emerged from Udaipur that you think will help the party reconnect with the masses?
Winning and losing election is a part of democracy. There was a time when the BJP had only two members in the Lok Sabha. We have more than 50 MPs today. We lost the election, but will win again. At the Udaipur Chintan Shivir, I was made convener of the committee to look into issues concerning farmers.
We have resolved to offer the farming community a comprehensive new deal that would lift it out of its present misery. Those who put food on our table are today reeling under debt due to high input cost and lack of remunerative minimum support price (MSP).
When in opposition, the BJP had promised to implement the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations. But when it came to power, it conspired with big corporate houses and made laws that sought to dismantle the mandis, end the MSP and leave the farmers completely at the mercy of traders.
The Congress has, therefore, decided to make a written compact with the farmers through its Udaipur Declaration.
Can you share the key elements of this new deal being offered by Congress, because most of the promises made in the Udaipur declaration have already been implemented by the government like crop insurance and direct financial support to the farmers?
Our new deal goes beyond the BJP government’s lip service to farmers. We have promised to give legal guarantee of MSP, which the government is not implementing.
The formula for fixing the MSP has been clearly spelled out in our resolution as C2+50%, which is the cost of crop plus 50% of this cost as profit. We have also promised a five-fold increase in the number of mandis to help the farmers sell their produce with ease.
The BJP had promised to double the income of farmers by 2022. But this has not happened. In 2014, the country’s farmers had Rs 8 lakh crore loan on them.
This has now increased to Rs 16-17 lakh crore. So instead of doubling income, the BJP government has doubled loan on farmers.
We have proposed to set up a national commission for the settlement of loans.
This will ensure that a farmer’s land is not auctioned off to recover dues, and no criminal case is filed against them for non-repayment of loan. I was chief minister for ten years and during this period, did not allow a single farmer’s land to be auctioned for recovery of loan.
The crop insurance policy has only benefitted private insurance companies who have mopped up about Rs 34,000 crore in the last few years and have paid almost nothing to farmers.
We will bring a crop insurance policy on a no-profit-no-loss basis and it will be handled by the public sector insurance companies.
We have promised to bring in a separate agriculture budget and set up a National Farmers’ Relief Fund. We have also decided to keep agricultural equipment and tractors out of the purview of GST.
There’s also been a lot of discussion in your committee on MGNREGA, about its funding and utility?
MGNREGA is an important tool to help landless rural people. We have decided to increase the minimum annual income under this scheme to Rs 18,000. We have also promised to provide free electricity to the entire farming community of the country.
State electricity boards are already reeling under heavy losses. Is it prudent to provide free electricity?
State governments always settle the dues of the state electricity boards.
SEBs are not left to fend for themselves.
The state governments take care of their finances. In Haryana, we give Rs 4,000-5,000 crore to the electricity boards to help them with their finances.
There was also talk of extending the MSP benefits to vegetables. What has the party decided about that?
The crop insurance and free electricity are the schemes that would benefit all the farmers, including the vegetable growers.
The promises your party has made to the farmers can be fulfilled only after you come to power. And the possibility of your returning to power is looking more difficult now with the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party which is fast occupying the space being left by the Congress. It has done so in Delhi and Punjab and is now preparing to enter Gujarat, Himachal and Haryana. How do you see the rise of AAP and Arvind Kejriwal?
The people of Punjab wanted a change and they saw AAP as an option. For the people of Haryana, Congress is already there as an option.
I don’t see Kejriwal as a challenge.
He has fought all 90 assembly seats and all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the past; but couldn’t win any. AAP is no threat to Congress in Haryana. Our fight is with the BJP.
There is a demand for caste census for better targeting of reservations. Do you and your party support this demand?
I am personally in favour of caste census. The Congress party is also not against it. We have had caste enumeration in the past.
There was also a suggestion to promise OBC reservation in local bodies and legislature, but it was not accepted by the party. What is you view on these reservations?
We have reservations in jobs and I am in favour of OBC reservations in local bodies. Prashant Kishor had said that the Congress leadership is surrounded by a coterie of unelected and unelectable leaders which misguides it. What do you think about it? That is his view.
You don’t agree with his view?
I may have my view. And I express my views from time to time.
We felt something and we wrote a letter to the Congress president. And if we feel the need to convey something more to the party leadership on how to strengthen the party, we will convey it to the leadership.
Have the issues that you all had raised in your letter to the Congress president been resolved?
The letter was written to suggest how to strengthen the party. It was not in favour of or against anybody. The membership drive is on and there would soon be election for party posts.
Let us see how it goes. If there is a need, I can write again.