When the new government assumed power in May 2004, one of the major commitments by the coalition led by the Congress was that it would act to ameliorate the sufferings of the huge rural population of small farmers and unskilled farm workers. It was not a mere poll promise though as the previous National Democratic Alliance government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party exited largely because of the anger of India’s rural voters who had been ignored in the development plan. Massive everyday suicides of farmers in states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had become a burning issue in the national election campaign. Therefore, a comprehensive legislation for agricultural workers received consensus of all partners in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). A year after it was adopted in the NCMP, the Bill is yet to see the light of the day.

Too Big to Ignore

Agricultural workers form the biggest section of the vast labour force in India. As much as 58 per cent of the country’s over one billion population depends on farming for employment and livelihoods. A majority of this population are poor peasants and unskilled workers. The small pieces of land that the poor peasants own do not provide enough income to support their families with the result that they join the farm workers to toil on the fields of big farmers.  No assured supply of water in the 65 per cent of land area, which is rain-fed, complicates the matters. The problems of the agricultural workers and small farmers got aggravated in the past decade adversely affecting life in the rural areas of the country. According to reports, scores of debt-ridden small farmers have committed suicide in the past decade unable to repay loans and feed their families.

A large section of the agricultural workers, who are not organised, consists of women.  Many of these workers are from backward classes and scheduled classes. The collective bargaining strength of the agricultural workers is weak as against their socially, politically and financially powerful employers. Employment opportunities have hit a low in the agricultural sector where the average rate of growth during 1990-1999 was only 2.63 per cent against an expected rate of growth of 4 per cent. As against the targeted average annual growth rate of 4 per cent in 2002-03, the rate was negative at 7 per cent. For the last year, the expected growth rate was only 1.1 per cent. The food production has gone down by 6 million tones and jobs have touched a rock bottom.

The central and the state governments have passed several legislations for special groups of workers, who are exploited and do not have a strong bargaining capacity to negotiate their wages or service conditions. There are special labour legistations for beedi workers, transport workers and mine workers at the national level. At the state level, for example, there are special labour laws for hamal and mathadi workers, security workers and domestic workers in Maharashtra. The millions of agricultural workers have, however, been always kept out of the purview of any law though conditions have worsed in the rural areas. The employment rate in rural areas has gone down by 80 per cent since 1993.  This abnormal unemployment has also considerably affected the collective bargain strength of agriculture workers

The Looming Crisis

Excessive subsidies given to the agriculture sector in the rich countries have lowered the prices of agricultural commodities by 50 per cent in last decade precipitating the crisis in the developing countries.  The developed countries also resort to dumping of agricultural products in poor countries. The anti-farmer economic policies followed by successive governments since 1991 have also not helped the cause of the poor farm workers. The share of the central and state governments in agriculture has come down while the population dependent on the sector has gone up. As against the 57 per cent share of agriculture in the GDP in 1951-52 when only 29 crore population was depended on the sector, the share fell to 20 per cent in 2002-03 while the number of dependent people rose to 60 crore (Economic Survey 2004-05). This has adversely affected the per capita income of the rural workers. The big farmers shift their burden on to agriculture workers by demanding extra hours of working and reduction of wages in spite of rising prices of essential commodities. The women agriculture workers are not paid even the minimum wages.

Demand for Special Legislation

The demand for a special legislation for agricultural workers is not new.  In 1975, the Standing Committee of the Labour Ministry accepted the need for a special legislation for agricultural workers. The first special legislation for agricultural workers was passed in 1974 by the Kerala government. The 26th State Labour Minister’s conference in July 1975 discussed the Kerala Agricultural Workers Act, which was appreciated by many Ministers. The conference recommended to the central government to enact a special labour law for agricultural workers. The Centre in turn called a special conference to study the problems of unorganised rural workers in January 1978.  This conference recommended the formation of a Central Standing Committee to advise the central government on appropriate steps to solve the problems of rural workers.  This conference also discussed the draft for a special legislation for agricultural workers.  The Central Standing Committee set up another sub-committee for preparing a draft legislation on the rates of wages, working hours and other conditions of services and machinery for the settlement of disputes.  This sub-committee was also entrusted the work of recommending welfare measures for agricultural workers. The sub-committee studied the problems of agricultural workers in detail. They visited various parts of Kerala to study the implementation of the Kerala Agricultural Workers Act.  It prepared a draft for Central Special Legistation for Agricultural Workers, which was sent to all the state governments.  The central government then convened in 1981 a special meeting of state Labour Ministers to discuss the draft legislation.  A sub-committee of this conference studied in depth the provisions of the draft.  However, it failed to find out a draft, which was acceptable to all the concerned parties.  Another State Labour Ministers’ Conference held in 1982 unanimously recommended a special legislation for agricultural workers to regulate the minimum wages, hours of work, welfare measures and other service conditions.  As per its recommendations, only Tripura has so far enacted a special legislation for agricultural workers. 

In 1987, the central government  appointed another commission for rural workers under the chairmanship of J R Darji, who resigned in 1990. C H Hanumant Rao became the Chairman of this Ccommission, which gave its recommendations for a comprehensive special legislation of agricultural workers in 1991. 

All the central trade unions of India called a convention of agriculture workers on 15 March 1990 in the national capital, which demanded immediate enactment of a special legislation for agricultural workers.  However, it took another five years for the central government to declare its intention to pass such a law.  A Bill was introduced by the Deve Gowda government in 1996, but Mr Gowda, a farmer-turned-politician, had to leave the office. The Bill was forgotten after Parliament was dissolved in 1998.