India is an agricultural country. Agriculture and its allied activities act as the main source of livelihood for more than 80% of the population of rural India. As of 2017, it was reported that it provides employment to approximately 52% of labour. Its contribution to Gross Domestic product (GDP) is between 14 to 15%. Exploring the recent developments in the country, Asian Voice spoke exclusively to BJP Spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (BJP MLA Candidate Hari Nagar VidhanSabha, Delhi, 2020). He shared his perspective over the cultural traditions of the Sikh community, ongoing farmers’ protests in India and he also explained how the government actually wants to help farmers in India.
On the ongoing farmers’ protests
“The government has tried to talk to the farmers. There were more than eight to ten meetings that happened which included cabinet ministers along with the farmers. The farmers asked the government to give in writing that no MSP will be deducted which the government agreed to do. The government further said that it was ready to put a hold on the bill until both parties reach a consensus over the matter. Post that, the government made a committee with the Supreme Court of India, wherein both the government and the farmers were allowed to have a certain set number of people. But the farmers didn’t agree. This was being termed as a “political” movement, but now farmers' leader Rakesh Tikait is going to Bengal, Kerala and he said he will go to all the states where elections are happening and meet the farmers. So I think it is clear that their motive behind the protest is not the bill. The motive behind the protests is - that they hate BJP, they hate Modi. They know that these protests will benefit them, hence they are letting them happen.”
Guru Nanak’s ‘sachcha sauda’
When Guru Nanak Dev Ji was young, his father gave him 20 rupees and asked him to go and do a fair deed (Sachcha sauda) with the money. On his way he met some people who had been starving for almost 20 days. So he used all the money given by his father, to feed these people and came back home. When his father interrogated him about what he did with that money, he said I did a fair deed (Sachcha sauda) and I fed hungry people. So Guru Nanak Dev Ji started the langar pratha as a tradition. He also told the community to save 10 percent of their earnings and donate it to the Gurudwaras or community for langar (community kitchen) as many times as possible on a regular basis. Thereafter, for 100s of years till date, if there’s any natural calamity or global issue where any kind of help is needed, the Sikh community is the first to come forward to help.
The future
Farmers used to sell a vegetable at 4 Rs/Kg. Traders used to take about 6 Rs from the farmer. It used to reach Delhi and retails used to get it at 10 Rs/Kg, and it used to be sold at about 20 Rs/Kg finally.A lot of big brands came in and there was a harvest of vegetables that would go stale if not consumed within a certain period of time. This was a very common phenomenon four - five years ago, it happens even now sometimes. This system has existed for the last 70 years and it cannot be abolished by just pressing a button. What the big brands had, was a huge amount of storage facilities. So they took produce from farmers and started storing and selling it to customers not at 20 Rs/Kg but 10 Rs/Kg. Farmers started getting 6 Rs instead of 4 Rs. Everybody was benefitting from this. Now, if this chain of four to five people breaks, everybody will benefit, including the farmers. So what Indians abroad can do to help is create big storage facilities for farmers in India, help them in getting the best price so that both farmers and customers can benefit.
