Maharashtra govt’s Ladki Bahin scheme throws a curveball for farmers

Gavit has also received Rs 6,000 in four monthly instalments under the Maharashtra government’s Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana (MMLBY). This scheme, launched by the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti coalition in July, provides a direct benefit transfer of Rs 1,500 per month to women aged 21-65 years from families with annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh.

For farm labourers like Gavit, the money from MMLBY, announced just months before Assembly elections, is a bonus over and above the rain god’s bounty that has created plenty of harvesting and planting work demand. But the new scheme is something that Mujahid Ali is not happy about. For the last one week, this farmer from Sonala village in Buldhana district’s Sangrampur taluka has been going out in search of labourers to harvest his cotton that will be ready for its first picking by the middle of this month.

“Right now, I am not getting confirmation from anybody. The bolls have fully formed and some have even burst. My kapas (raw un-ginned cotton) yields are going to be good, but all that will come to naught if there’s no one to harvest it,” says the 37-year-old, who cultivates the fibre crop in 18 acres. Like Ali, several farmers across Maharashtra’s cotton and soyabean-growing belts of Vidarbha and Marathwada are blaming MMLBY for what they claim is one of the reasons for an unprecedented labour shortage, which has even put the brakes on harvesting.

“The women who have already started getting the money are not interested in coming to our fields. The ones who are yet to get the money are busy organising documents and going to the Nagrik Suvidha Kendra (Common Services Centre) to avail of the scheme’s benefits,” says Ali.

Ramesh Patil, a farmer from Latur, agrees there is a paucity of labour in his area. “Labour is short in supply and we had to make arrangements from other districts,” he says, adding that the Ladki Bahin scheme has pushed up the labour cost. In Akola, Lalit Patil, leader of a farm union called Shetkari Sanghatana, says they had to bring labour from Baitul and other areas of Madhya Pradesh. “Labour in Maharashtra is extremely short in supply and this year the condition is really bad,” he says. Patil mentions how most women who pick cotton are now busy collecting documents to get the direct cash transfer.

“The ones who have got the money are either asking for higher rates which farmers would not be able to afford, or plainly refusing to come to work on the fields.”

Farmers are also in a hurry to harvest soyabean and the first picking of cotton due to fears of rains from the retreat of the southwest monsoon.

The years from 2019 to 2022 all saw heavy showers from the retreating monsoon during October, causing damage to the harvest-ready crops in many parts of Maharashtra.

Gavit partly agrees that MMLBY may have led to some agricultural labourers choosing to work less or even sit at home: “But I cannot say that for myself. As a mother of four children, I need the money from work. Ladli Bahin alone will not be enough for me.”

Gyani Sawalkar (35), a landless farm labourer from Salai village in Dharni taluka of Amravati district, says that she was earlier working seven days a week for a daily wage of Rs 200.

“Now I am getting Rs 1,500 per month from the scheme. And since my husband is already earning, I find it necessary to go out and work for only two-three days of the week,” she says.

That’s not music to the ears of Satish Desai, who is busy supervising the harvesting of soyabean on his 20-acre holding at Chincholi Nikoba village in Hingoli district’s Aundha taluka. It takes about five women to harvest an acre of the oilseed over two days.

“Last year, I was paying Rs 250-300 per woman per day. This time, I am paying `400 and also taking care of their food and housing,” says this farmer, who has travelled all the way to Amravati to get workers to harvest his crop. All of them will have to be dropped back home after the job is done.

“Ladli Bahin has definitely played a part. A payment of Rs 1,500 per month is not small, as it will meet a substantial part of the requirement of many rural women labourers. Now, they have the choice of not coming to work or working only a few days,” says Desai. In cotton, the harvesting labour is paid a per-kg picking rate. Ali says that last year, he was paying a rate of Rs 4/kg at the start of the picking season. That rose to Rs 10/kg in November-December during the second and third pickings, which was also the peak season of plantings of the rabi crop.

“This time, even the ones showing interest are demanding Rs 10/kg at the start, which was the rate during the peak season last year,” complains Ali.