The controversial farm laws and their recent repeal by PM Modi have polarized India. Many experts have opined its effects on farmers, economics, and national politics. I want to draw your attention to some hitherto unnoticed stakeholders in this debate: Rats.
There are over 2.5 billion rats in India, roughly two for every hardworking person in the country. And rats feed on the same grains as humans. 8-15% of their body weight is sourced from grains every day. But how do they get so much wheat while millions of people go to bed hungry every night? They find it in the food stocks meant for people, i.e., they prey on the farm produce resulting from the sweat and blood of our hardworking farmers. As much as 10% of the entire wheat and rice is taken up as free commission by these little rodents!
The former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Sharad Pawar, once noted how up to 40% of the value of annual production was wasted, with crops left to rot in the sun without storage or transportation or eaten by insects and rats. The Supreme Court ordered the government to distribute the food for free to the needy rather than rotting in warehouses. Thankfully, Mr Pawar spared the rats this gross injustice by claiming that there is no way that the government can think of distributing the grains to the poor.
The three recently repealed farm laws, intentionally or not, were dead set against these poor rats:
Modi's three laws, therefore, respectively aimed at an efficient transport of grains, proper maintenance of warehouses, and a transparent discovery of prices. These, in turn, could have led to barely any produce left for the ever-hungry rats. Rats are happier than farmers by their repeal, which makes me wonder if Ganesh Chaturthi and not Gurupurab was an apt occasion for the announcement, celebrating the image of Lord Ganesha atop his smiling mouse?
Perhaps the laws could have also given Delhi at least one more clean breath. The free market could have conveyed to the farmers that their poisonous stubble burning is all for nothing - India simply does not need as much wheat as it produces. But what about the rats who feed on the wasted grains? Are human lungs, for some reason, more important than the tummies of rats? Perhaps it was this argument that led to environmental activists like Rihanna and Greta Thunberg siding with rats in the debate on farm laws.
The interests of rats have always been at odds with those of the people whose very efforts they prey on. And yet, it is hard to single out these rodents. They blended in perfectly at the protest sites around Delhi, where they even nibbled on the dead bodies of farmers!
The troubles of rats in India, however, are far from over. India has been modernizing at breakneck speed since the 1991 pro-market reforms by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. Seven times as many international airports were built after 1991 than before it, with over 100 more airports on the way. Airports are usually not as welcoming to rats as railway stations. I not-so-fondly remember giant rats scavenging on people's leftovers as a kid on every one of my train journeys. More travel via airports than railway stations translates to fewer opportunities for rats. In other words, as India flies high, rats perish.
Hopefully, my words have moved you to consider these tiny stakeholders in the debate on farm laws. There are undoubtedly other significant aspects troubling the farming sector of India, such as small agricultural lands and a dearth of alternative employment for rural workers. Equally if not more important is the issue of rampant corruption by intermediaries. Middlemen at mandis exploit farmers by promising them future payments that never materialize. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) suffers from illegal diversions and adulteration. The grains meant for nearly free-of-charge distribution at ration shops often end up in black markets. A former chairman of FCI coined an interesting term for such corrupt people: human rats.
Rats. They exploit the efforts of unsuspecting farmers. They derail the government's welfare efforts. They live on stocks procured by taxpayer money. They will naturally oppose tooth-and-nail any reform that challenges their means of living. And alas, they continue to plague our country.