Digitalisation is Aimed at Corporatisation of Agriculture: AIKS

Farmers' organisations have started raising concerns about the BJP-led Union Government’s Cabinet decision on September 2, 2024, to launch seven new schemes, with a priority on the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), having a total outlay of nearly ₹14,000 crore for the agriculture and allied sectors. The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said this is part of a well-thought-out plan for the corporatisation of agriculture. “The overwhelming majority of the Indian peasantry comprises small, marginal, landless, and tenant farmers. Once incorporated into the big business-led digitalisation, the predatory corporations can dominate the entire agricultural production and ruin the livelihood of the peasantry,” AIKS said in a press release.

Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary of AIKS, said that this project, which claims to “boost” farm incomes, comes when the promise of "Doubling Farmers’ Income" stands thoroughly exposed. He added that the schemes for the digitalisation of agriculture, branded as the Digital Agriculture Mission, along with initiatives for crop science, agricultural research, livestock management, horticulture, soil health management, and agricultural extension, are nothing but a ‘jumla’ to manage the accumulating anger of the peasantry. He said the Modi regime's agrarian policies are heavily influenced by the worst forms of free-market ideologies.

Ashok Dhawale, President of AIKS, stated that the pro-corporate and anti-farmer policies of the Modi regime were evident in the controversial Land Acquisition Ordinance and the draconian Farm Laws. The fierce resistance of the peasantry forced Modi to withdraw both. The ruling dispensation, which understood that the peasantry would not succumb to the agenda of outright corporatisation, is now deploying the tactic of announcing fancy schemes without addressing ground realities and grave class inequalities.

The AIKS reiterated that the much-hyped project for the digitalisation of Indian agriculture is entirely in line with the demands of international finance capital. The World Bank model envisions the market dominance of digital corporations by acquiring more farmers’ data. The Union government's free-market penchant is crystal clear in the announced scheme for “modernising” agricultural research. This would translate into further shrinking public investment and increasing the clout of digital and agricultural corporations in shaping the research agenda of Indian agriculture. This must be viewed in the context of the large-scale entry of multinational corporations through agreements with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the declaration by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2024-25 Budget speech, offering public funding to private research in a challenging mode.

The AIKS warns the peasantry to be cautious about the BJP-led NDA government’s nefarious designs to corporatise agriculture and calls to fight this pro-corporate policy by forging larger unity of the farmers across the country. AIKS demands that the Union government increase public investment in agriculture, ensure MSP @ C2+50% with guaranteed procurement, reduce the cost of production by withdrawing GST on all agricultural inputs and waive the debt burden of farmers by prioritising small and middle peasants and agricultural workers.