Bhuneshwar Paswan is a worried man. His only source of income is his share of paddy on someone else’s land in Nokha block of Bihar’s Rohtas district but it hasn’t fetched a good price this year.
The Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (Pacs) — the official agency to procure paddy on behalf of the state government— has not bought harvested crop yet because the pandemic delayed the process. And local merchants are offering him ₹1,000-1,200 for a quintal of paddy against the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹1,868.
A 49-year-old Dalit landless labourer, Paswan sows paddy on small patches of land adding up to roughly 1.15 acres, belonging to a local landlord, Ras Bihari Singh. “Singh agreed to offer the land for share cropping as forward caste people generally avoid the area located near the Scheduled Caste settlement,” said Paswan.
Last year, he sold 15 quintal of paddy to the government agency but says he has no option but private players this year. “The money is not even enough to return my loan of ₹30,000. If I don’t pay back in time, it may cost me dearly,” Paswan added.
Every year, he and thousands like him travel to the grain bowl states of Punjab and Haryana to work as labourers during the harvest season. But Covid-19 and the lockdown wreaked havoc on migrant workers such as Paswan, who were forced to remain in their villages and earn a fraction of what they usually do.
{{/usCountry}}Every year, he and thousands like him travel to the grain bowl states of Punjab and Haryana to work as labourers during the harvest season. But Covid-19 and the lockdown wreaked havoc on migrant workers such as Paswan, who were forced to remain in their villages and earn a fraction of what they usually do.
{{/usCountry}}Then, in October, protests broke out across north India against three recently passed agricultural laws. Repeated government assurances couldn’t quell the protests that drew tens of thousands of farmers to agitation sites outside Delhi.
“Farming is a risky affair. Sometimes, we find it hard to get reasonable returns. This is perhaps why farmers in Punjab and Haryana are restive,” said Paswan.
His three sons worked at construction sites at nearby Bikramganj, but lost jobs during the lockdown and returned home.
The Centre provided an employment scheme for labourers, which covered 38 Bihar districts and paid ₹3,500 for 20 days of work. But Paswan said that was not enough to feed his family of nine, who share a dingy two-room thatched house.
The condition of labourers such as Paswan was precarious even before the pandemic. The percentage of landless labourers as a proportion of rural labour force increased from 18% in 1964-65 to 25% in 2011, showed 2011 Census data. Official data further showed that about 61% of the rural households either had no land or held uneconomic holding of less than 1 hectare. But now, with rural incomes dwindling, Paswan is feeling the pressure of farm mechanisation reducing the need for unskilled labourers. “There is a need to train the young labourers for farm sector,” he said.
From the Union budget, Paswan has two main demands.
One, he wants the Centre to launch a scheme like Kisan Samman Nidhi to financially support labourers. “Cost of treatment in private hospitals is too high. We should be provided with free health insurance coverage,” said Paswan. Under the federal direct cash-transfer programme, farmers are provided income support of ₹6,000 a year.
Two, he hopes farmers get a better deal because that will indirectly boost his income.
“I would have earned ₹800 per quintal more for paddy if government made buying at less than MSP an offence,” he said.