Dr Sanket Thakur’s Fight to Revive Farmers’ Condition in Chhattisgarh

After completing his PhD degree from the University of London, Dr Sanket returned to India and started working for the welfare of Indian farmers. He contributed to their cause for more than 20 years. It was 2006-07, when Dr. Sanket met Manish Sisodia who used to go to Chhattisgarh for educational programs. Since then, he started working with Manish and later became an active member of Anti Corruption Movement and joined Aam Aadmi Party. Social activist Dr. Sanket Thakur is currently the state convenor of AAP Chhattisgarh. 

Economic Status: Majority of the population in Chhattisgarh is composed of farmers, tribals and labourers. In terms of economic status, 91% of state’s population survive on Rs 5,000 (or less) per month of average income. People hoped to see an improvement in their financial status when the state of Chhattisgarh was born but their expectations proved to be very far from reality. Suffering of the residents of Chhattisgarh continued and their situation worsened due to false labels imposed on them of being extremists and naxalites.  

Condition of Tribals: North Chhattisgarh is the most naxal affected area but it is sad to see that majority of innocent people (32% population of Chhattisgarh are tribals) across the state are also labelled as naxals. In reality, tribals are the most honest, hard working and non-violent individuals. It all began when a group of people from neighbouring states came to Chhattisgarh and started violence among locals. Tribals were exploited by outside forces and when they resisted, they were labelled as naxals. Over the years, situation has deteriorated as internal government and security forces have also started treating tribals as naxalites. 

Farmers' Struggle: Chhattisgarh’s economy is mainly dependent on agriculture with 75% of its population being farmers. Among these farmers, most rely on single crop cultivation which is paddy. Situation of farmers in Chhattisgarh is not different from any other agriculture-dominant state as more than 20,000 farmers in the state have committed suicide in the past 15 years. Unprofitable farming forced people to migrate to big cities for labour work. Farming has never been considered as a tool for development by Indian citizens. Farmers being the most deprived class in India receive unfair price for their crops and have always been used as a political means for easy votes. 

Minimum Support Price: Swaminathan commission recommended that farmers should be given proper rate for their crops with Minimum Support Price (MSP) which should be more than (or at least) 50% of the actual cost of cultivation. Majority of Chhattisgarh farmers own less than 2 hectare of land and their entire family works day and night to produce crops. But the Cost and Price Commission for Agriculture does not consider the labour work carried out by farmers in their own fields in MSP. This is one of the reason that farmers always get less price for their produce. Increasing price of diesel, electricity, pesticides and labour further increases stress among farmers. Cumulative increase in input costs rarely translates into the selling price of their produce. 

Agropreneurs: After coming back from UK, Dr. Sanket started working in the direction of improving the condition of farmers by collaborating with ISRO scientists and NGOs to develop profitable farming techniques. Dr. Sanket provided a new narrative for farmers by encouraging them to come forward as agropreneurs. He is developing a model to assist farmers in establishing their own farming companies. He believes that farmers should be properly trained as entrepreneurs. Despite multifold negligence in addressing farmer issues by both central and state governments, Dr. Sanket is determined to promote agropreneurs. Govt’s disregard for farmers also pushed Dr. Sanket to take his fight to the next level by engaging himself in politics. 

Fight for Bonus: Dr. Sanket along with the farmers of Chhattisgarh had a long battle with the state govt for which he was also arrested and sent to jail. Because of unfair calculation of MSP, Dr. Sanket and others were demanding bonus for the production of paddy. Present MSP of paddy is set to Rs. 1,700/qt but Dr. Sanket research shows that it should be at least Rs 2,600/qt. Apart from MSP, in order to survive in Chhattisgarh, farmers should also get Rs 900/qt as bonus. His long fight resulted in the approval of Rs 300/qt bonus with set MSP of Rs 1,700/qt by the state government. Currently, farmers are receiving the bonus directly in their bank accounts but there is another problem. 

Issues with the Bonus: There are a total of 36.5 lakh farmers in Chhattisgarh (according to official data). But only 10 lakh farmers who registered themselves with the government to sell their produce receive the bonus of Rs 300/qt. Consequently, farmers who are not selling their crops directly to the govt are not getting any bonus. Unnecessary delay in payments, filtering of the final produce, unexpected labour charges, corruption, long queues are some of the reasons that majority of farmers are not selling their produce to the govt. This leaves about a total of 25.5 lakh farmers who do not get any benefit from Chhattisgarh govt. 

Pro-Farmers Agenda: Dr. Sanket is confident in his research and starting his new inning in politics focused around farmer issues. His pro-farmer agenda promises Rs 2,600/qt as MSP of paddy along with Rs 900/qt bonus to all farmers in Chhattisgarh. In order to reduce the financial debt of farmers and make farming a profitable business, he is planning to release bonus at the stage when farmers start preparing for paddy. His calculations shows that additional bonus along with increased MSP will cost around Rs 8,000 crore and the sum will not make a dent in the economy of the mineral rich state which receives a lot of royalties. He further plans to provide farming friendly environment by promoting agropreneurs and protect farmers from natural disasters, dangerous pesticides and financial debts.

Watch complete video of Dr. Sanket Thakur speaking to overseas volunteers during AAP Ka Radio Conference Call on Aug 19th, 2018.

AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat).

Part 2 of this blog: Insights of AAP election campaign from Chhattisgarh

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