West Bengal farmers will start a strong movement if Minimum Support Prices (MSP) is not made a legal assurance for all agri-produce, said the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), on September 16, 2021.

Stating that over 60 percent of people and 68 percent land in the state is engaged in agriculture, the AIKSCC farmers submitted a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee along with a draft of the MSP law to demand legalisation of the remunerative prices.

“The National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission) has recommended a policy of remunerative pricing which clearly states that the minimum price of the agricultural produce should be fixed by adding at least 50 percent to the comprehensive cost of production,” said AIKSCC Secretary Avik Saha during a press conference on Thursday.

Farmers said that they are unable to earn enough despite good investment and good yields. Agriculture accounts for 27 percent of the state’s GDP yet farmers’ conditions continue to deteriorate.

“Farmers are not able to meet the basic needs of the family with the income they are getting from the prices they are getting for their produce, after deducting the cost of production,” said State Secretary Kartick Pal.

Moreover, the AIKSCC said that farmers and agricultural workers are suffering severe debt. In some cases, some farmers are driven to death by suicide. Farmers said that it is the constitutional duty of the government to protect the lives and livelihoods of farmers and all people associated with it.

“The state government must formulate policies to ensure the implementation of the Right to Life and the Right to Livelihood and to prevent the misery of farmers by enacting and enforcing appropriate laws,” said Saha.

A demand for legal MSP has been a longstanding demand of farmers participating in the nationwide struggle as well. On September 15, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) said that the National Statistical Office’s (NSO) seventy-seventh survey revealed how the mandi system was weakening under the BJP-led central government. Farmers said this can be correlated to the decline in real farm incomes of agricultural households.

“The NSSO report shows that the percentage of agricultural households that sold their produce at the government mandis has decreased significantly between 2013 and 2019 – this is the period that coincides with the NDA-1 regime of the Modi Government. The majority of the agricultural households were unaware of the MSP announced by the government, and most blamed lack of infrastructure for not being able to sell at the APMC mandis,” said the SKM.

The SKM alleged that such facts argue that the government is weakening mandis in the favor of corporations. Farmers across India are preparing for Bharat Bandh on September 27.

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Sick of the central government’s patronising behaviour, Indian farmers reiterated their demand of repeal of the three agriculture laws as the whole and sole agenda of the farmers’ movement, during a press conference at Singhu border on December 4, 2020.

All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) General Secretary Hannan Mollah said that the organisation has called for a Bharat Bandh on December 8 all over India where roads and other modes of communication will be closed down similar to previous protests. As per reports, this will be followed by picketing of all Ambani and Adani malls.

“The central government cannot play with us. They call these discussions, trying to show people that they are trying to talk with us. However, they have spent every discussion trying to convince us about the benefits of these laws. Henceforth, we will only agree to talks if they submit their agenda in wiring. We have studied these laws and understand it better than the central government. Farmers know them better than the government. We don’t want your [the government’s] lecture,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Delhi police sent a notice to Mollah on December 3 charging him with seven years of imprisonment for protesting at Parliament Street on September 25. At the time, Mollah was present at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for a routine protest meeting. Yet, city police filed a complaint against the farmers’ leader and called him to court on December 10.

“The BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] Government is taking recourse to Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to curb political protests. This is a clear violation of fundamental rights and the BJP Government is seeking to clampdown democratic protests on the pretext of the pandemic and the lockdown,” said the AIKSCC in a press release.

The organisation strongly condemned the “cowardly effort” by the BJP Government to use police force to intimidate leaders and activists protesting against anti-Farmer Acts.

Further, they accused the Union government of misusing provisions of the epidemics Act throughout the lockdown specifically on farmers protests against government policies and against organisations building resistance to the government.

“Violations by RSS-BJP on numerous occasions are ignored. We call upon all democratic organisations to rise up to protect our right to protest. We demand unconditional withdrawal of cases filed across India on protesting farmers, workers and activists,” they said.

Accordingly, the organisation called upon all farmers units nationwide to protest against the attack on their democratic rights and the notice issued on Mollah December 5.

“Effigies of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adani and Ambani will be burnt all across India in large numbers. Our only demand now is the repeal of the three Acts,” said Mollah.

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On Monday, May 28, AIKSCC leaders met with Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, to present him with two bills prepared by the country’s farmers. The leaders who met with the president included Sri V.M. Singh, Sri. Raju Shetti, and Hannan Mollah, among others. They requested him to call for a special session of the Parliament to discuss the agrarian crisis, and for the passage of these bills. The bills are aimed at solving problems related to indebtedness and minimum support price for farmers as well as landless labourers. The AIKSCC leaders informed the president that 21 political parties support the bills. According to the AIKSCC, the President was forthright in his support for the cause. While the bills are presented in Parliament, AIKSCC members will pressure local Members of Parliament to offer their support for them. 

The AIKSCC, which is an umbrella group for 193 organisations, will also hold its general body meeting on June 16, one year to the date it was formed last year. It plans to raise special countrywide movements to demand the reduction of input costs, particularly diesel prices, and for a ban on corporate farming. 
The AIKSCC also condemned the “brutal and pre-meditated attack” by the Tamil Nadu police on those protesting pollution from the Sterlite copper plant. It also condemned the Uttar Pradesh government’s inaction in addressing the non-payment of dues to cane farmers that led to a protester’s death. The group also clarified that the “village shutdown” or “strike” called by farmers from June 1 to June 10 in some areas of India is not their call, but it extended its best wishes to protest movements seeking to secure basic rights for farmers.

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