India can't lose out on this window of economic reforms
By Gopal Krishna Agarwal,
There is a marked difference between the agitating farmers and the anti-social, ultra-Left, and pro-Khalistani elements who are piggybacking on them. Understanding this difference is important for citizens in general, and politicians in particular. One, this agitation is not merely a law and order issue, and dealing with it as such will be a mistake. Two, it is not focused on the interest of the farmers, and it is also not about the three farm laws alone — so any effort to explain the benefits of these laws will not cut any ice. Three, there are emerging strains between two different factions — the Sikhs of Punjab, concentrated at the Singhu border, and Jats from western Uttar Pradesh, stationed at the Ghazipur border. While those at Singhu are averse to any political intervention, at Ghazipur, Rakesh Tikait has shown indications of political ambition.
How the government deals with these two strains will be
important in the coming days. The plot has got thicker with global players,
spanning both State and non-State actors, jumping on to the bandwagon. All of
this makes it clear that this is a political movement against the Narendra Modi
government, and it has to be dealt with politically. The farm laws are good for
agriculture and will benefit farmers to a large extent by creating an
alternative and transparent ecosystem for attracting private investment in this
capital-deficient sector, which has been starved of market reforms for decades.
But leaders of the movement insist on a repeal of the laws and will not accept
any amendments. The government has already bent backwards, agreeing to more
than a dozen amendments, allaying concerns on Minimum Support Price, and
offering to suspend these three laws for up to 18 months, which will make them
ineffective till that time.
The
government’s reluctance to repeal the laws stems from the conviction about the
need for market-oriented reforms in the sector and increasing the role of
private players in the agri-economy. This stand has been reiterated over two
decades by agro-economists, parliamentary standing committees, empowered
committees of the state agriculture ministers and several commissions. If this
moment of reckoning is lost, it will cause irreparable damage to the democratic
polity of the country. The question, thus, is, will India move towards anarchy?
Will there be tyranny of the unelected, or will we respect democratic
institutions such as Parliament, the Supreme Court and the process of law-
making as envisaged in the Constitution?
Reforms
are difficult. Benefits come with a time lag and are spread thin, while their
adverse impact on certain stakeholders are marked and immediate. Reforms need
extraordinary political capital, and so the political class is reluctant to
carry them out. As such, we have not seen many major reforms since 1991 (except
the Goods and Services Tax and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016); even the
original ones were limited and carried out under compulsion of imminent
sovereign default. The leadership at that time could not muster the courage to
undertake major reforms in land, labour and agriculture segments. We lost an
opportunity in the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, and if this golden
opportunity is lost, we may not have any appetite left to undertake mega
reforms. There are no more low-hanging fruits available for reforms.
left to political class alone. Politics will be what it is
with limitations in a democratic ecosystem. Let us all rise to the occasion.
