Leaders Online Desk: A separate law should be made for the guarantee price of agricultural crops. “Delhi Chalo” agitation by farmers' organizations in northern states is on for their major demand that all recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission should be implemented. Farmers had set up a similar camp on the Delhi border two years ago. Due to this agitation, the central government had to cancel 3 agriculture laws. Now again, when the Lok Sabha elections are on the horizon, the farmers' organizations are on a strong agitation. Against this background, how important are the votes of farmers in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections? This can be seen by looking at the results of the last few elections. Election analyst Pradeep Gupta has referred to this in his book 'How India Votes and What It Means'. (Lok Sabha Election 2024)
At the national level, larger issues continue to influence policy. Such as state economy, banking, regulations, proclamations and schemes for different sections of society (poor, farmers, labourers), national security, foreign policy, infrastructure for industries, aviation, rail travel and taxes are important.
Voters in rural areas have high expectations from the government. Measures like implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural produce, compensation to farmers for crop losses due to drought, floods, unseasonal rains and hailstorms are crucial in strengthening confidence in the ruling government.
What happened in Madhya Pradesh?
Madhya Pradesh had bumper production of onion in 2017. In such a situation, the farmers were afraid of a large influx of onion in the market and the price would fall, and it happened. Onion prices in the market had fallen below the minimum support price due to bumper production. What to do in such a situation? Farmers did not understand. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan deposited hundreds of crores of rupees in the bank accounts of farmers through the Chief Minister Kisan Bhavantar Yojana and the Chief Minister Krishak Samriddhi Yojana. This brought great relief to the farmers and enabled the farmers to come out of financial loss. Shivraj Singh Chauhan strengthened his position in the state due to such schemes for the welfare of the poor and farmers. Although he lost against Kamal Nath in 2018, he had a fringe majority at that time. Due to this the Congress government collapsed in just 15 days.
Congress had achieved success on the support of farmers
In Chhattisgarh in December 2018, voters gave a similar vote in favor of Congress. Notably, Congress won in Chhattisgarh in 2018 due to its pre-election promises of higher base price for paddy crops and loan waiver for farmers. In the previous two elections, the vote share of BJP and Congress was 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. In 2018, the vote share went up to 10 percent. A survey conducted then found that the Congress party had promised an MSP of Rs 2,200 for paddy crops. Raman Singh's government had given Rs 1,700 MSP. This issue was beneficial for Congress. Congress had given good news to the farmers to increase the MSP of paddy crops before Diwali in this paddy belt. The results of this were seen in the elections. With 15 days to go to the first phase of polls, the winds of change began to blow in the state and polls in the interim showed that the state was favorable for the Congress. This transformation was seen only because of the support of the farmers. Raman Singh, who has been in power for three consecutive terms, was shocked despite his clean and good image in the public mind. The magic of Congress was working in the state on the strength of the promise given to the farmers.
'We will see in the next election! Voters shock Congress by saying
During the polls during which the voters were asked if the Congress did not keep its word… to which the voters replied 'Agli election mein dekheken! ' And they did. After four months, the BJP won the Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2019. Many factors were responsible for it. Schemes confined to the state could not bring success to the Congress in the national level elections. Also, today's voter is very mature and attentive. He knows exactly who to vote for?. What they wanted from the state government; They got it. After that, he voted in favor of Prime Minister Modi in the Lok Sabha elections from the state. The reason behind this was the fulfillment of Modi's promises like gas connection, toilets and housing for all. (Lok Sabha Election 2024)
PM Kisan Samman Yojana: 9 crore beneficiaries
The promises made by Prime Minister Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign; He emphasized on completing it in his first tenure. Effective implementation of schemes like Ujjwala Jan Dhan Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan helped raise his image in the public mind. Especially PM Kisan Samman is an ambitious scheme of Modi government. Recently the 16th installment of this scheme was deposited in the bank account of the farmers. PM Modi deposited Rs 21 thousand crores in the bank accounts of around 9 crore beneficiary farmers. Under this scheme, the farmers are given assistance of Rs. 6 thousand annually. This amount is deposited in the bank account of the farmers in three installments. Earlier, 9.07 crore farmers had received the installment of PM Kisan Samman Yojana for August-November 2023. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, around 90 lakh new beneficiaries have been added under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme through 'Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatre' in the last three and a half months.
(The book How India Votes And What It Means has been used as a reference for this article.)
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