Gujarat Polls: Farmers Not Able to Get Married in ‘Model’ State

"Being farmer is a curse here. It does not matter how much land you have. If you are doing farming, you won't get marriage proposal. I have 50 acres of land on which I produce cotton, peanuts and onion. Still I am a bachelor" says a sad Dillubhai Dadbhai Vada, a farmer from Amreli talking to Newsclick.

Not many outside Gujarat know that if you are a farmer here, it is difficult and in some cases almost impossible to get married. This is a silent tragedy which could shame the proponents of the 'Gujarat Model'.

Farmers at Medhi village in Amreli district said that while death can be the final recourse for farmers to make their voices heard (referring to suicides), even before that they are an extremely unhappy lot.

Perhaps Vada remained unmarried by choice? "No. I turned 45 this year but did not get even a single marriage proposal so far," he said.

Sanjaybhai Virjibhai Akabri (40) owns five acres of land. He too wants to have a wife and children. But, he had not expected something like his present fate.

"We are three brothers. The other two eloped with Dalit girls and got married. I want arrange marriage in the caste I belong to, but have no proposal," said Sanjay who is a Patidar.

Nitinbhai Mansukbhai Vagasia, a Patidar by caste, has the same story to share. "The maximum age of marriage in our community and society is 25. I am 32 year old. Who will marry me now?" he asked.

His other two brothers had to go outside their caste for marriage. They have eight acres of land among three brothers.

"The problem is not unique to this village. It is being faced by farmers of the Patidar community who depend on farming across the state," he added.

Why is this so?

Rajni Vaghajibhai Patel explained in details. "Everyone knows here that farming is not a profitable business. Those who do it are indebted because they don't get respectable price for the agricultural produce. Most of the times, it becomes impossible to even recover the production cost. What we get from the market after selling the produce is not sufficient to run a family. How can we pay back the amount we get from private money lenders or banks? As a result, the borrowed sum keeps increasing because of the high interest rate and makes the farmers highly indebted," he said.

He said no parents want to marry their children in a family which has a debt burden and is not economically well off.

Entire Medhi village, according to Rajni, has a debt burden of around Rs 7 crore and the Taluka it belong to Rs 700-800 crore. The village has over 100 land owning farmers.

Migration has begun from here to cities like Ahmedabad and Surat that have job opportunities.

"Around 30 families of farmers have left the village and gone to cities so that their members can get jobs in different industries,” Rajni Patel said, showing locked houses.

Farmers' woes

Rajni said the government’s purchase price for cotton is Rs 950 per 20 kg. Actually, farmers get prices which are below the level fixed by the govt. The cotton price in Amreli marketing yard ranges between Rs 700-950 per 20 kg based on its quality. The government rate of peanuts stands at Rs 910 per 20 kg but the traders give farmers only Rs 700-800 per 20 kg.

"Farmers prefer to sell their produce to private traders because of payment on the spot. The government process is lengthy. You will have to get yourself registered with an authorised centre. You will be issued a number. When your turn will come, you will get a call. For payment, you will again have to wait for next 25 days at least," said Rajni.

Production cost is constantly going up because prices of fertilisers, seeds, electricity needed for irrigation and labour cost are increasing. But the rate of agricultural produce does not appear to keep pace with this increase.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised earlier that his government would hike the cotton price to Rs 1,500 and peanuts to Rs 500 per 20 kg," Bhayabhai, a farmer in Junagadh, told Newsclick.

"Narendrabhai, what happened to your promise? It was mere a lip service?" he asked.

"Mr PM, wait for December 18 (Gujarat election results' day) and you will get to know what happens when people are taken for granted," he concluded.

Kalubhai Laxmanbhai Saksreliya, a farmer in Amreli, has a piece of advice for the government. "We don't want subsidy from the government. It should only ensure that we get profitable return for our produce. The prices we get at present are not sufficient to meet the basic family expenses. How can we the return the loan we have taken for farming?" he said.

He said the price of wheat is Rs 1,500-1,700 per quintal which should be at least Rs 2,500.

Impact of GST

It is said that farmers are exempted from Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"It is an utter lie. We have to pay the tax on everything needed for farming, be it diesel, spare parts of equipments, fertilisers and pesticides. The traders who buy our crop have to pay GST, which they take from us and adjust the amount from our final payments. So, stop telling this lie," said Kalubhai.

“If the farmers will be crushed, the economy of the entire country will collapse,” he said.