the methods used by the farmers’ organizations to influence the policy-makers in India

Farmers’ organisations refer to group of farmers who are organised to protect their own interests related to issues like minimum support price, subsidies, welfare schemes for farmers, etc. 

Ex: Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, Sehkari Sangatan, Karnataka Raitha Sangha, etc.. 

Farmer’s organisations, being a pressure group, follows different types of protests to influence policy-makers: 

(a) Lobbying: here they influence policy-makers by providing information about their demands and grievances. For example: Due to protests by Dairy Farmers, KMF increased the rate of milk by Rs. 2 per litre. 

(b) Protests and rallies: here they mobilise huge number of farmers and conduct rallies on a large scale to let the people understand their demands. 

For example: protests by farmers in Maharashtra last year to increase MSP rates, pension schemes for farmers, implementation of Swaminathan committee recommendations, etc. 

(c) Satyagrahas and fast unto death protests: farmers normally resort to these protests when their moderate protests fail to fulfil their demands. For example, protests by Tamil Nadu farmers in the national capital last year. 

(d) Sometimes they resort to other types of protests like throwing their crops on the road in case of low prices, blocking railways, etc. 

Effectiveness of these methods 

• It depends on a lot of factors like the genuineness of the problem, Impact of market on their livelihood, financial implications on satisfying their demands, unity within these organisations, etc. For instance, in case of protests by Tamil Nadu farmers, their demands were not met as central government wanted state governments to settle their grievances. 

• Demands by farmers across the country to implement MS Swaminathan committee recommendations are not yet implemented. 

• Demands for loan waiver are be accepted, especially during election times as it is a popular issue. It happened in case of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, etc. 

• In some cases, farmers’ demands were met very quickly. For example: Protests by farmers, in Punjab against case filed by PEPSICO on patent related issues was quickly withdrawn by the company. 

• Farmers organizations certainly play a huge role in acting as true representative of farmers’ problems to the policy-makers. However, unfortunately, their effectiveness has been limited due to various reasons