India's agrarian crisis: Why are our farmers angry?

Over the last three years, fuel and fertiliser prices have shot up. But minimum selling prices of crops witnessed a marginal hike. Weak farm and crop prices combined with massive debt has made our farmers angry across the country.

While the centre promises to push for development in rural and far reaching areas with better access to electricity, subsidies for cooking gas and better roads, farmers are struggling with low crop prices.

"Government says they are working to double farmers` income, but instead of rising, crop prices are falling. We sold soybean at 5,000 rupees (per 100 kg) in 2014 and now we are getting 2,900 rupees," said 30-year-old farmer Anil Verma, from the Sehore district, 50 km from Bhopal told Reuters.

And while voters acknowledge the improved roads, it is not enough. "We can`t eat roads. Our income should go up, which is not happening," said Ramnaryan Gour, a taxi driver in Bhopal.

On Thursday, thousands of farmers accumulated in New Delhi for a two-day march to the Parliament. The farmers are demanding a special 21-day session of the Parliament on the agrarian crisis and other related issues such as debt relief and better minimum support price (MSP ) for crops. The march is being led by All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), which claims to have the support of 200 farmer outfits.

The brewing agrarian crisis has led to over 3 lakh farmers committing suicide in India between 1995 and 2015, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Data after this period is not available.

Previously, farmers led massive protests in drought-affected Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh, against low prices of crops and lack of storage and transport capacity.

With agency inputs