Farmers Agitation | SabrangIndia News Related to Human Rights Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:12:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sabrangindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Favicon_0.png Farmers Agitation | SabrangIndia 32 32 United they stand: ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Mahapanchayat’ at Ramlila Maidan sees a wave of farmers from across India, protesting https://sabrangindia.in/united-they-stand-kisan-mazdoor-mahapanchayat-at-ramlila-maidan-sees-a-wave-of-farmers-from-across-india-protesting/ Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:12:07 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=33821 Farmer protestors in their thousands, from 37 Unions under the umbrella of the Samyukta Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (SKM) gathered at the protest site in the capital, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait says that the protest will not end till the government finds a solution to their demands

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]]> On the morning of March 14, visual of farmers in large numbers in the “Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat”, being held at Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, surfaced on social media. Almost 37 farmer unions under the umbrella of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have gathered in Delhi to press the union government to accept the demands of the farmers. It is essential to note that the demands being put forth by the protesting farmers include a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for 23 crops to enable the farmers to lead a dignified life, loan waiver, and other policy measures on insurance etc.

Most significantly they have demanded the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations for MSP, pensions for farmers and agricultural workers. Along with this, they also seek justice for the death of the 22-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who was killed during clashes with the state police.

On-ground visuals from the protest site can be viewed here:

A large group of women can be seen within the group, hailing farmers unity and raising slogans against the Modi government.

Multiple farmer unions came together for this Mahapanchayat

AIKS (All India Kisan Sabha) also took to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to share pictures from the protest site.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) farmer leader Rakesh Tikait also participated in the Mahapanchayat and addressed the media.

Speaking to PTI, Tikait said the unified protest of farmers today has showed the government that the farmers of the country are stand together and their protest is not going to end unless the government brings a solution through mediation. “A meeting was held here and the government got a message that the farmers of the country are united. The government should resolve the issue through talks, this agitation is not going to end.”

He further said “From Kashmir, Ladakh to Kanyakumari, we will hold protests across the length and breadth of India. They want to ruin the whole country the way they have ruined the mandis of Bihar. By ruining the mandi system in Bihar they converted the farmers in Bihar to labour. They want to turn all of us into labourers and snatch away our lands. We will not give up our lands, we will protest against each of them.”

He accused the union government of oppressing and dividing the farmers by stating “They want to break us up. They want to create separate farmer unions. This is the policy of the union government. They want us to break into divisions based on caste, religions, regions and language”

Significant Police “bandobast” could also be seen

The permission to organise the gathering was granted by the Delhi Police and municipal corporation on March 11 on condition that the protesting farmers limit participation in the Mahapanchayat to 5,000 persons, that there would be no tractor trolleys and no march at the maidan. However, the Delhi Police had still anticipated more than 15,000 farmers to arrive.

SKM has indicated that more than 30,000 farmers from Punjab were anticipated to arrive for the protest. The SKM had stated that will establish a “Sankalp Patra” or “letter of resolution” at the Mahapanchayat in an effort to bolster their opposition to the “pro-corporate, communal, dictatorial policies of the Modi government, to fight to save farming, food security, livelihood, and the people from corporate loot”.

Meanwhile, as this protest in the capital reached its culmination, thousands of farmers continue to protest on Punjab-Haryana borders as part of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest, where they have been camping since February 13.

 

Related:

Déjà vu, a film that depicts the chilling effects of corporate-contract farming, resonates with Indian farmer’s protests

Farmers march to be intensified from March 6, various means of transport to be opted by farmers to reach Delhi, ‘Rail Roko’ agitation to continue from March 10

SKM calls for massive Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14, denounces BJP Regime’s repression on farmers, and MP ticket to Ajay Mishra Teni

Four-hour long ‘Rail roko’ protest held by farmers on tracks across Punjab, participation from farmer unions associated with SKM

 

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]]> Day 4 of Farmer Protest: Excessive state force at protestors leads to death of elderly farmer, first death to be reported as of now https://sabrangindia.in/day-4-of-farmer-protest-excessive-state-force-at-protestors-leads-to-death-of-elderly-farmer-first-death-to-be-reported-as-of-now/ Fri, 16 Feb 2024 08:19:46 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=33192 The third meeting between the farmer leaders and the union ministers yielded no result, ministers assured ceasefire till talks are taking place; more than 100 farmers have been injured till now, three lost vision due to pellets

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]]> Tragic news surfaced on the morning of February 16, with an elderly farmer passing away due to cardiac arrest. As reported by local journalists covering the farmers protest, a 65-year-old farmer from Punjab, namely Gyan Singh, died in the early hours of Friday after suffering from a heart attack. Singh had been a part of the ongoing ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest and had been at the protesting at the Shambhu border along with thousands of other farmers. The farmers have alleged that it was the tear gas that was being thrown at the protesters by the State that resulted in his death. As provided by Journalist Garvit Garg of Gaon Savera, “After being hit by tear gas shells, Singh was constantly having breathing troubles.”

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher also spoke on the death of Gyan Singh and highlighted the issues that the protesting farmers are facing in accessing adequate medicines and food. Speaking to media, Pandher stated “Central government is the reason behind this agitation. We have a lot of people here (Shambhu border) participating in the protest including elders. We are facing difficulties in receiving medicines at the right time and even getting food, and resting.”

The video can be viewed here:

As per a report of the Indian Express, Singh hailed from Chacheki village in Gurdaspur district. Jagdish Singh, nephew of the deceased, provided that around 3 am on Friday, while Singh was sleeping in a trolley along with five other farmers about a kilometre away from the Shambhu barrier site, Gyan Singh reported feeling uneasy.

“We called the ambulance parked near Shambhu police station and took him to Rajpura civil hospital. However, he was referred to Rajindra Medical College, Patiala, as he was feeling breathless. Oxygen supply was given to him in the ambulance. By 5 am, we reached the medical college but he died at around 7.45 am at the hospital,” Jagdish stated while speaking to The Indian Express.

The news of the death of the elderly farmer had also been confirmed by the Patiala Deputy Commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray. As per the IE report, Parray stated that “The farmer has died of cardiac arrest as per medical records.”

Gyan Singh’s nephew provided that the deceased was a bachelor and stayed with his nephews. The nephew Jagdish further elaborated upon the allegations of Gyan Singh having died due to inhaling tear gas that was thrown at the protesting farmers by the Haryana police and said that “On February 13, when shelling started, my uncle had gone near that location where tear gas shells were being lobbed. He inhaled it and had been feeling uneasy since then. He had even taken medicine from a stall set up by Khalsa aid…he was in the trolley since February 11 as we left our village on February 11, halted at Beas and reached Fatehgarh Sahib on February 12.”

A Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee member provided that the deceased Gyan Singh was a regular at protests and had also participated in the farmers agitation against farm laws in 2020-2021. Gurlal Singh, a KMSC member from Amritsar, provided that Gyan Singh had remained on borders for most of the time during the protest against the three contentious farm laws. Sarvan Singh Pandher, farmer leader and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) coordinator highlighted the injuries being caused by the excessive use of force by the State of Haryana and the union government and said, “The government needs to see how they should treat the farmers as they are on the roads protesting for their rights. Already, they have injured many of our farmers.”

It is essential to note that as the protest enters its fourth day, more than one hundred farmers have reportedly suffered serious injuries till now. As per a report of the Hindustan Times, these serious injuries have resulted in amputations, fractures and head injuries. As per a report of the Indian Express, three farmers have lost their vision from pellet injuries. The loss of eyesight occurred due to the farmers being hit in the eyes by rubber pellets by the Haryana Police on the Punjab-Haryana border to stop the farmers from marching towards Delhi.

Details of the third meeting between the farmer leaders and the union ministers

Meanwhile, the third rounds of talk that took place yesterday between the Union ministers and farmer leaders in Chandigarh yielded no result. As per the posts of Journalist Garvit Garg, the union ministers reached Chandigarh after 8 pm on February 15 for the said meeting that was supposed to take place at 5 pm. The third round of talks had taken place between Piyush Goyal (Food Minister), Arjun Munda (Union Agriculture Minister) and Nityanand Rai (Minister of State for Home Affairs) and the farmer leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jarnail Singh.

The Red Mike journalist Saurabh Shukla also posted an interview with a farmer leader who was present at the said meeting. As narrated by the said leader, the union ministers did not have anything to say when they were shown the tear gas cans being thrown at the farmers and the rubber bullets being fired by the Haryana Police. Rather, the union minister reportedly dodged the questions by stating that these actions are being taken by the state of Haryana. It is pertinent to note here that the state government of Haryana is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The farmer leader clearly stated that while many topics were spoken about at the meeting, the farmers held onto their demand for a law on the minimum support price (MSP) and stated that they will continue with their protest that the demand for MSP as well as other demands are met with. They leader also highlighted that the Punjab government has stated that they will bear the expense of the protests that are being hospitalised.

Answering to the question of industries and people being affected by the protest, the farmer leader clarified that the farmers had to march to Delhi and would have protested at the site allotted to them, but it is the government itself that is creating blockages for everyone. He further elaborated that their plan was to protest on one side of the road and not to block any roads. Notably, the union ministers have assured the farmer leaders that there will be a cease fire from the union and state governments till the talks are taking place.

The video can be viewed here:

Farmer leader Pandher also spoke to the media in regards to the meeting of the union ministers and the leaders and stated “We had the discussion with the ministers. We will call it a ‘decision’, only if they will practically implement everything that they have said to us in the meeting. It will be our last option to move forward if nothing happens ever after the talk and giving enough time to the government.”

The video can be viewed here:

Notably, the next round of talks is supposed to take place on 6 pm of Sunday at Chandigarh where the union ministers will be presenting a plan.

 

Related:

Day 3 of Farmers’ Protest: More than 100 farmers injured by rubber bullets, solidarity protests by BKU and SKM in Punjab

Farmers Protest: Braving tear gas, blockades, state obstructions, farmers journey towards Delhi to demand law on MSP

Farmers’ Protest: Physical repression, prohibitory orders, Delhi entry blocked – Déjà Vu?

Farmer leaders detained in Madhya Pradesh, made to sit at police stations, saw police raids at night- attempts to stop farmers from joining protest intensify

Two journalists seriously injured amid Farmers’ Protests, DUJ condemns police action, ask for farmers demands to be settled

Protesting farmers spend Basant Panchami facing government’s water cannons and tear gases’ government withholds social media accounts of farm leaders, journalists

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]]> India Misses Unique R-Day Celebration: SKM to Intensify Struggle https://sabrangindia.in/india-misses-unique-r-day-celebration-skm-intensify-struggle/ Fri, 27 Jan 2023 11:28:25 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2023/01/27/india-misses-unique-r-day-celebration-skm-intensify-struggle/ Farmers celebrate Republic Day in Jind by holding a protest rally to mark the second stage of the farmer movement.

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Jind (Haryana): Far from the customary Republic Day Parade at the glittering Central Vista, thousands of farmers congregated at Anaj Mandi, in Haryana’ Jind, to celebrate the Constitution and its values.

Though the celebration was unusual—it was the largest farmer meeting after the suspension of agitation at Delhi’s borders to protest the consistent apathy towards the demands for minimum support price (MSP as per the Swaminathan formula), revoking of the Electricity Amendment Bill and justice to Lakhimpur Khiri case victims.

According to the farmers, the protest marked the beginning of the second stage of the movement in which the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will intensify its struggle to claim fair crop remuneration and remind the Centre about other promises made at the culmination of the Delhi agitation.

The Centre, through its letter by then-farmers welfare department secretary Sanjay Agarwal, had assured the leaders that it would form a committee with a clear mandate to ensure MSP to farmers, revoke cases related to the agitation and do away with the adverse provisions of Bill.

“The idea behind the rally was to show our unity because Central law enforcement agencies tried hard to sabotage our Kisan Parade on Republic Day in 2021 during our agitation at Delhi’s borders,” Krantikari Kisan Union president Darshan Pal told Newsclick.

farmers

“It gave an impression that we are no longer united. However, we defied all propaganda and ultimately won. Farmer organisations came together again in Kurukshetra last year and resolved to celebrate Republic Day in Jind to reiterate our demands. Today, we are remembering our martyrs and the rally is an important development in the second phase of the movement,” he added.

Pal emphasised that the first phase of the movement revolved around repealing the three contentious farm laws. “The consensus among farmers was to suspend the agitation after Modi’s announcement. We had won and needed some break.”

He said it was a “tactic to see if the government realises its promises. When it defaulted, we met again in Delhi last year and announced that we would resume our struggle for MSP, Electricity Amendment Bill and punishment for Lakhimpur Khiri culprits. We reminded the Centre through letters and memorandums to MLAs and MPs”.

Republic Day is “important for several reasons”, Pal said. “We lost Navreet Singh in Uttar Pradesh due to police violence. Farmers are holding bike rallies, meetings and conventions across the country today. The government lied to us on MSP. It introduced the Electricity Amendment Bill. We aim to expose the BJP-RSS combine and isolate it politically before general elections.”

Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan was seen eagerly waiting for buses carrying farmers to arrive at the destination. The organisation had made elaborate arrangements to manage the rally—from feeding thousands of people to ensuring the safety of women and children.

Large batches of farmers came from Punjab’s Malwa belt, infamous for an agrarian crisis and farmer suicides. A study revealed that 16,606 farmers had committed suicide in Punjab alone from 2000-2016 owing to distress.

Ugrahan said that his “apprehension was correct” when the government invited SKM representatives to discuss MSP. “Neither they informed us about the mandate of the committee nor its members. The other members and experts were the same people who supported the farm laws. What would we achieve by going there? It was a clear betrayal.”

The Republic Day celebration is a “reminder that the emancipation of farmers cannot be achieved till they are indebted” he said.

“We want to realise the Constitution in its true spirit. It says that working people will get justice and we seek it. Farmers are in debt due to the government’s dishonesty and wrong policies,” he further said. “The Centre “presented a model which favoured corporate entities through expensive seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. These entities now wish to control the entire agriculture sector. We would not tolerate it.”

Mangtu Ram and his friends, who came from Mansa district’s Sardulgarh, explained the maths behind their debt. Ram planted cotton on 18 of his 22 acres hoping to profit this year.

“I got spurious seeds and pesticides—there was no cotton. A few plants that had flowers were destroyed by pests. Fertilisers are expensive with bags now weighing 45 kg compared to earlier 50 kg. When this government came to power in 2014, a bag of DAP cost Rs 300. Now, it has increased to Rs 1,300,” Ram said.

“The price of one bag of urea has jumped from Rs 100 to Rs 275. Pesticides, which cost 100 per acre, now cost Rs 1,200. We cannot even recover our rent. Our biggest concern is the closure of government seed research centres with the entire market being handed over to the private sector,” Ram added.

Mentioning his story of “never-ending loans”, Rishi Pal Singh said, “Since groundwater in my area cannot be used for irrigation, farmers have to invest in pipelines measuring up to 4 km to get water from canals. The cost is in lakhs. Three bags of seeds are needed for an acre, which costs Rs 3,000. Besides, pesticides, herbicides, diesel and labour expenses plus rent inflate the bill.”

Singh said that a farmer “does not even get a quintal of cotton per acre, which will hardly fetch Rs 9,000. In this situation, he also has to take care of his family. It is a cycle of never-ending loans.”

farmers

The mobilisation from Uttar Pradesh (UP) was managed by BKU (Tikait). Parminder Dhaka and his friends travelled 190 km to Jind to “listen to Rakesh Tikait and “convey the pain” of sugarcane farmers in western UP.

“When the BJP was in the Opposition in UP, its workers demanded Rs 450 per quintal MSP from the Samajwadi Party government. The party has been in power for six years, but no member gives a damn about the demand. Does it mean we don’t feel pain anymore? Not at all,” Dhaka said.

Dhaka said that farmers “consoled themselves that the loss of farming could be compensated” if any of their sons get selected for the Army. “The government snatched that opportunity as well through the Agnipath Scheme.”

Sachin Chaudhary isn’t interested in farming anymore. “The input costs have rocketed, and mills are unwilling to pay us on time. “Bajaj Sugar Mill, in Bhasana, alone owes Rs 222 crore to farmers from the previous year. The input cost, excluding the family labour, for one quintal is Rs 300 whereas we receive Rs 350 in return,” the young farmer said.

Farmers and agricultural workers in Haryana are angry over a new scheme under which family identity cards are linked with every social security scheme.

Ram Chander, an activist of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) from Narwana (Jind), said that the government had fixed Rs 1,80,000 annual family income as the benchmark for this card along with 12 exclusions.

“The ridiculous part is that if you own a motorcycle, you cannot get the PDS ration. If your electricity bill exceeds Rs 1,000 per month, you are out. Even a pension is included in family income to keep you out. That is why angry farm workers are present in the rally in large numbers,” Chander said.

The rally also mourned the Lakhimpur Khiri victims and offered condolences. Terai Kisan Sangathan president Tejinder Singh Virk said that the families of the deceased still await justice.

“We are very grateful that the Supreme Court took sou motto cognisance of the killings. Yet the bail for Ashish Mishra on is hurtful. The world watched how he mowed down people under his jeep and farmers only reacted in self-defence. I hope the judiciary will deliver justice by keeping in mind the Constitution we are celebrating today,” he told Newsclick.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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]]> 2020-2021: The historic farmers agitation and its significance https://sabrangindia.in/2020-2021-historic-farmers-agitation-and-its-significance/ Tue, 02 Mar 2021 12:59:51 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2021/03/02/2020-2021-historic-farmers-agitation-and-its-significance/ While opposing the brazenly pro-corporate policies of the present government, the further success of the farmers’ movement lies in co-operative farming, addressing issues of land ownership and distribution, fair wages, implementation of the FRA 2006 as well as the barriers caused by caste and gender

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The unprecedented Kisan struggle that began on November 26, 2020, has been the largest, the longest and the most powerful nationwide farmers’ struggle in the history of Independent India. This struggle has several distinctive features.

First, it is led by over 500 farmers’ organisations in the country, who have united under the platform of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). All sections of the peasantry have joined together. 

Second, it has combated tremendous repression from BJP state governments in the form of teargas shells, water cannons, lathi charges, and after the government-sponsored violence in Delhi on January 26, the indiscriminate arrests of farmers, FIRs against farmer leaders, eminent journalists, arrests of climate activists, ED raids on independent news portals like NewsClick, and has overcome it all.

Third, it has faced constant defamation from the BJP-RSS and has been accused of being instigated by Khalistanis, Maoists, Naxalites, and by Pakistan and China. It has stood its ground.

Fourth, in spite of lakhs of farmers laying siege to Delhi for over 90 days and nights, it has been completely peaceful and democratic. Over 250 farmers have been martyred in this struggle so far. It has also victoriously combated the criminal conspiracy of violence unleashed by the BJP central government, its police and its agent provocateurs on January 26, Republic Day.

Fifth, it has been entirely secular. The farmers in struggle all over India belong to all religions, all castes and speak all Indian languages. This has made it more difficult to suppress the struggle.

Sixth, after the unprecedented success of the Bharat Bandh on December 8, with great support from the working class and all other sections of society, it is becoming a people’s struggle.

Seventh, and most important, this struggle has directly identified and attacked the corrupt nexus between the BJP-RSS-led central government and the Indian and foreign corporate lobby, symbolised by Ambani and Adani. For the first time, a nationwide call has been given for the boycott of Ambani and Adani products and services. Through its three major demands, this historic class struggle of the peasantry has squarely attacked the neoliberal policies themselves.       

Repeal of pro-corporate Farm Acts

The first demand is the repeal of the three anti-farmer, anti-people and pro-corporate Farm Acts which were passed through Parliament after trampling on all democratic norms. No Kisan organisation worth its name had demanded any of these laws, and no Kisan organisation was ever consulted before these laws were first promulgated as ordinances in June 2020. Although agriculture is a state subject under the Constitution, no state government was ever consulted. The same method was used to annul 29 labour laws that had been won by the working class after bitter struggles and to ram through four anti-worker Labour Codes through Parliament.

The first Farm Act aims to dismantle APMCs and hand over the entire trade in agricultural produce to domestic and foreign corporates. This will destroy farmers and agriculture, and will also compromise the food security of the country. The Bihar state government under Nitish Kumar dismantled APMCs in 2006. As a result, farmers in Bihar are getting around Rs 800 to 1000 less per quintal of paddy than the MSP which is Rs 1,878. This Act eventually aims to do away with MSP and government procurement of food grains altogether. With this, the entire public distribution system will be dismantled. This will hit millions of both urban and rural poor.  

The second Farm Act aims to encourage and promote contract farming across the country. As our previous experience of contract farming in India and the world shows, this will only help the powerful corporate companies to loot the farmers. In a travesty of justice, there is no provision for farmers for approaching courts in case of any dispute. The real alternative to corporate farming is co-operative farming, which the government is not at all willing to consider.

The third Farm Act is a disastrous amendment to the Essential Commodities Act. The central government has removed all restrictions on stocks of seven most essential items, viz. rice, wheat, pulses, cooking oil, onions and potatoes. This will give the corporates and the big traders a free hand to hoard and black market these essential items and will hike their prices manifold. This will also endanger food security. In the Global Hunger Index figures declared recently, India already ranks 94th among 107 countries. This will aggravate even further.

Legal guarantee of MSP and procurement

The second demand is for a law to guarantee MSP and procurement of all agricultural produce at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2 + 50%), as recommended by the National Commission on Farmers, headed by Dr M S Swaminathan. The Modi regime is uttering a white lie when it claims that it has already implemented MSP at this rate. It has applied the formula A2 + FL, which is much lower than C2 + 50%, and has thus tried to deceive farmers.

Moreover, in most parts of our country, the MSP declared by the central government for 23 different crops has no meaning, simply because there is no government procurement in most of the states. Hence traders routinely buy agricultural produce from farmers at much less than the MSP. Even in Punjab and Haryana, government procurement is restricted mainly to only paddy and wheat. Hence this is a key demand of farmers from all over the country.

Successive central governments implementing neo liberal policies have increased the cost of production in agriculture manifold over the last three decades. One, by slashing subsidies on agricultural inputs like fertilisers. Two, by encouraging rapacious corporates in the manufacture of seeds, fertilisers and insecticides. Three, by greatly increasing the price of diesel, petrol, power and irrigation. However, the price that the farmer gets for his crop has never increased in the same proportion. This is the root of the agrarian crisis and massive peasant indebtedness, leading to farmer suicides on the one hand and distress sales of farm land on the other.  

This is further aggravated by natural calamities like severe droughts, floods, hailstorms and unseasonal rains, with no proper crop insurance cover. The PM Fasal Bima Yojana has proved to be a farce, enriching corporate insurance companies at the expense of farmers. With huge amounts of credit being channelised to the corporates, there is a credit crunch in the farm sector, especially for small and middle farmers. The agricultural import-export policies adopted under WTO dictates and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have also hit farmers very hard.

It is for all these reasons that the farmers struggle has demanded a law to guarantee MSP and procurement at one and a half times the cost of production. Another related demand of the peasant movement has been a complete loan waiver to the peasantry by the central government, which has no compunctions in granting loan waivers and tax waivers of lakhs of crores of rupees per year to its handful of favourite crony corporates.   

The third demand is the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, which shamelessly promotes further privatisation of power and aims to end the cross subsidy. This will lead to a massive hike in power bills not only for irrigation pumps of farmers, but also for domestic use in both rural and urban areas throughout the country. This will hit all sections of working people.

Savage attack of crony capitalist (neo-liberal) policies

The neo-liberal policies in our country, and in agriculture in particular, were begun by the Congress central government in 1991 and have been taken forward exponentially by the current Modi-led BJP regime.

The 27th national conference of the AIKS held at Hisar in 1992 was the first that was held after the beginning of the neo-liberal policies. It tore apart the neo-liberal policies and warned, “The present policies of the Union government will have a serious adverse impact on the peasantry. This will speed up pauperisation of the poor, the small and middle peasants. The number of unemployed youth, both in the urban and the rural sides will again rise to unprecedented heights.” The seminal presidential address of Harkishan Singh Surjeet at this conference elaborated on these and other aspects further. Significantly, the AIKS made this assessment of the neo-liberal policies within a year, when almost all other peasant organisations were supporting the new economic and agricultural policies. The warnings of the Hisar conference have been more than vindicated by agrarian developments over the last 30 years.

‘The Alternative Agricultural Policy’ document adopted by the AIKS and the AIAWU in December 2003 broadly divided the post-independence period of capitalist development in agriculture into two phases – the state-sponsored phase from 1947 to 1990 and the liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation (LPG) phase from 1991 onwards. In the light of this, it outlined the two main rural contradictions as follows:

“From the above analysis, it is clear that the present situation in Indian agriculture is characterised by two important contradictions. The first is the sharp division between the rural rich, comprising landlords, big capitalist farmers, large traders, money-lenders and their allies on the one hand and the mass of the peasantry, comprising agricultural workers, poor and middle peasants and rural artisans on the other. The second is the growing opposition to imperialist-driven LPG policies of the government, not only from the mass of the peasantry but also from sections of the rural rich.”

Worst culprit: BJP-RSS’ Modi regime

While the first contradiction is and will continue to be very relevant, it is the second contradiction that has been consistently emerged at the forefront in the last three decades, more sharply in the last seven years of the Modi-led BJP-RSS regime. The last few years have seen a steady strengthening of peasant resistance against the neoliberal assault on their livelihoods by the Modi government. As agrarian distress intensified because of its policies, farmers and rural workers began to strongly raise their voices against them.

Most of these protests by farmers in the recent years –  the nationwide peasant struggle in 2015 against the Land Acquisition Ordinance led by the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), a joint platform that was initiated by the AIKS; the AIKS-led Kisan struggle of Rajasthan in 2017-18 for loan waiver and MSP: the 11-day united Farmers’ Strike in Maharashtra in June 2017 and the AIKS-led Kisan Long March in Maharashtra in March 2018, both of which succeeded in wresting a large loan waiver package from the BJP state government and also some progress in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA); the AIKSCC-led Kisan Mukti Sansad in Delhi in November 2017; the CITU-AIKS-AIAWU-led Mazdoor Kisan Rally in New Delhi in September 2018; and the AIKSCC-led Kisan Mukti March in Delhi in November 2018 – were dominated by poor and middle sections of the peasantry and by rural workers as their livelihoods were threatened the most. The participation of rich peasants in these protests was moderate, at best.

Over the years, two demands – implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of guarantee of MSP and procurement at one and a half times the entire cost of production (C2 + 50%) and freedom from debt for farmers – became the main focus of the demands of the peasantry. The current nationwide farmers’ struggle represents the climax of all these earlier peasant struggles.         

The current farmers’ struggle realises that the BJP central government led by Narendra Modi has been the worst culprit in intensifying neo-liberal policies in agriculture, industry and all other sectors. BJP-led state governments have followed suit.

An unprecedented Agrarian crisis

The agrarian crisis in India has reached extremely serious proportions due to the neo liberal policies of the last three decades. As per the figures of the National Crime Records Bureau under the Union Home Ministry, nearly four lakh farmers in India have been forced to commit suicide due to indebtedness in the last 25 years from 1995 to 2020. Lakhs of children of Adivasi, Dalit and backward families in our country die every year due to starvation and malnutrition.

Profit maximisation is being sought by squeezing the peasantry through neo-liberal agricultural policies. It is precisely these policies that are fuelling the catastrophic phenomenon of lakhs of suicides of debt-ridden peasants. Slashing of subsidies and an open door to rapacious MNCs and corporates in the production of agricultural inputs leading to massive increase in the cost of production; consistent refusal to give remunerative prices for agricultural produce under pressure of foreign finance capital; a glut in agricultural imports and a slew of free trade agreements that further ruin the peasantry; crunch in formal agricultural credit and siphoning it away to the corporates, this leading to increased dependence of farmers on usurious private moneylenders; a series of natural calamities like drought, floods, hailstorms as well as attacks by pests and by wild animals and a bogus crop insurance scheme designed to benefit not farmers but corporate insurance companies; savage cuts in public investment in agriculture, especially on irrigation and power with a thrust towards their privatisation – these are some of the main aspects of the neo-liberal attacks on agriculture that are responsible for the deepening agrarian crisis, rising indebtedness and alarming peasant suicides and landlessness.

Class implications of this struggle

With the enactment of the three Farm Laws in 2020, the Modi government has opened a battle front in which all sections of the peasantry face a crisis. This has enthused all sections of the peasantry to join the struggle, and even sections of rich peasants have joined the struggle in considerable force. Kisans have been protesting against these laws since June 2020 itself, when the three ordinances were first promulgated. The struggle intensified with the ramming through of the laws in Parliament in September and reached its pitch with the Delhi siege from November 26, 2020. Over the last nine months, innumerable protests – with the participation of millions of farmers – have taken place across the country against these ordinances and laws.

But it would be entirely wrong, as the BJP-RSS rumour mill has been churning out, to characterise the present phase of the Kisan struggle as a struggle of the large farmers, or as a struggle of the Punjab and Haryana famers alone. The protests against these farm laws must be seen as a continuation of the Kisan protests over the last six years, enumerated above. While poorer sections of the peasantry, who have been hit the hardest by the policies of the Modi government, have led the struggle thus far, enactment of these farm laws has enthused middle and large farmers to also join the struggle in bigger numbers. This has resulted in a consolidation of the class alliance of all sections of the peasantry against this government.

Similarly, the fact that the borders of Delhi are dominated by farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Western UP can hardly be interpreted to mean that only farmers from these states are unhappy with the three laws. It is obvious that the proximity of these states to Delhi meant that the farmers of these states had to take the lead in the battle on the borders of Delhi. It is noteworthy that, even in the protests on the borders of Delhi, farmers from every state have participated. Farmers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and from as far as Odisha, Andhra and Kerala, have been participating at the Shahajahanpur and Palwal borders. This is apart from the lakhs of farmers who are enthusiastically participating in all the struggle calls of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) in almost all states of the country.

So far as the class aspects of this struggle are concerned, let us consider some hard facts. As per the latest Agricultural Census (2015-16), 86.2 per cent of the cultivators in India have less than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land. The estimate from the 2012-13 NSS Survey of Land and Livestock Holdings is also similar, at 90 per cent. The average size of land holdings in rural India, as per the Agricultural Census of 2015-16, was only 1.08 hectares.

According to the same data source, the share of the number of marginal holdings (i.e., less than 1 hectare) in the total number of operational holdings increased from 62.9 per cent in 2000-01 to 68.5 per cent in 2015-16. The share of small holdings (1 hectare to 2 hectares) decreased from 18.9 per cent to 17.7 per cent during this period. Hence, if we add marginal and small holdings, we see that 86.2 per cent of the holdings were either marginal or small. Large holdings (above 4 hectares) decreased from 6.5 per cent to 4.3 percent between 2000-01 and 2015-16.

The above figures were for the number of holdings. Let us now come to the area under holdings. The area operated by the marginal and small farmers increased from 38.9 per cent in 2000-01 to 47.4 per cent in 2015-16, while the area operated by large holdings decreased from 37.2 per cent to 20 per cent during this period.

The average monthly income of an agricultural household in India in 2012-13 (according to the Situation Assessment Survey of the NSSO, 70th round) was only Rs 6426. If we consider this for across land size classes, the average monthly income of an agricultural household was Rs 5247 for those with 0.41 to 1 hectare, it was Rs 7348 for those between 1 and 2 hectares. The average monthly income was Rs 19,637 where land size was between 4 and 10 hectares and Rs 41,388 where land size exceeded 10 hectares.

The average monthly income of an agricultural household in Punjab was Rs 18,059, in Haryana it was Rs 14,434, in UP it was Rs 4,923. On a per capita basis, this comes to be only Rs 3450 in Punjab, Rs 2450 in Haryana and Rs 863 in UP. In most other states, it is even less. 

This was the stark reality of the state of farmers in India in 2012-13. Now 8 more years have passed. There has been no NSSO survey in this period. But with the aggressive neo-liberal onslaught of the Modi-led BJP central government that came to power in 2014, and the Covid pandemic in 2020-21, it is crystal clear that the situation of farmers has further deteriorated.

The above facts and figures also clearly imply that a large majority of those who are participating in the current farmers struggle throughout the country come from the 86 per cent whose land holdings are less than 2 hectares. They are the ones who are the hardest hit. The present anti-corporate, issue-based struggle for the repeal of the three Farm Laws and for a law to guarantee a remunerative MSP and procurement, is strengthened by the entry of sections of the rich peasantry. This is a welcome development in the direction of larger peasant unity.

However, as AIKS has consistently emphasised in its documents and reports, we must realize that the class struggle in the rural areas does not come to an end with the current farmers’ struggle. If this struggle is a success, we would still need to return to our core class issues for our movement to grow. The issues of land, wages, implementation of MNREGA, PDS, FRA 2006, and of course the whole gamut of issues related to caste and gender will remain. Both the contradictions explained in the AIKS/AIAWU Alternative Agricultural Policy 2003 and mentioned above will have to be dealt with and fought against together.    

True significance of the current farmers’ struggle

The nakedly pro-corporate policies of the Modi-led BJP government, which are aimed at selling off the whole country under cover of the hypocritical slogan of ‘atmanirbharata’ are making things much worse. There is almost no sector in India which the Modi regime has not put up for privatisation and sale to Indian and foreign corporates – be it railways, airlines, airports, ports, mines, telecom, public sector, banks, insurance, irrigation, power, education, health, and even defence. Now it is agriculture and land which is on its hit list. And this is being bitterly opposed.    

The true significance of the ongoing historic farmers’ struggle throughout the country is that it strikes squarely at the disastrous, anti-national, neo-liberal policies of the BJP-RSS regime, which has always acted as the most servile agent of the corporate and imperialist lobby, right from the days of our glorious freedom struggle. It is a patriotic struggle waged by millions of farmers not only for themselves, but also in defence of the people and of the entire country, in defence of our sovereignty, democracy, secularism, federalism and our Constitution itself.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is an integral and important part of the united leadership of this historic farmers’ struggle. It appeals to all peasants, agricultural labourers, workers, employees, women, youth and students all over the country to strengthen this crucial class struggle in all possible ways, until victory is achieved.     

(The author is President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)

(February 22, 2021)

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]]> Kisan Mukti March: Farmers Pledge to Oust ‘Kisan Virodhi’ Modi Government https://sabrangindia.in/kisan-mukti-march-farmers-pledge-oust-kisan-virodhi-modi-government/ Sat, 01 Dec 2018 05:45:30 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/12/01/kisan-mukti-march-farmers-pledge-oust-kisan-virodhi-modi-government/ Setting the tone for the movement ahead, a draft with farmer’s demands has been issued in public interest to mobilise people against the anti-farmer NDA regime.   Congregating in Delhi, thousands of farmers and tribals from 26 states of India, marched from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament Street to make their voices heard at the gates […]

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]]> Setting the tone for the movement ahead, a draft with farmer’s demands has been issued in public interest to mobilise people against the anti-farmer NDA regime.

Kisan mukti march 

Congregating in Delhi, thousands of farmers and tribals from 26 states of India, marched from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament Street to make their voices heard at the gates of India’s Parliament. Holding red, yellow and green flags, singing songs and shouting slogans, the historic farmers’ march pledged to intensify their struggle against the ‘kisan virodhi’ policies of the Narendra Modi government that had added to their distress, and oust it in the next general elections.

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The farmers, united under the umbrella of the All Indian Kisan Coordination Committee, are demanding that Parliament must convene a  21-day special session to discuss the ongoing agrarian crisis.
If the Modi government can conduct a midnight session in the House to pass the GST (good and services tax) Bill then why are the farmer’s issues not on its agenda? the farmers asked.  They are also demanding Parliament must pass the two Bills prepared by a Kisan Parliament last year to ensure liberation from debt and assured remunerative prices. Two Bills have been introduced as private member bills in Parliament by K.K. Raghesh, a CPI(M) MP and Joint Secretary of AIKS in Rajya Sabha, and by Raju Shetti, MP from Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha and leader of the Swabhiman Shetkari Sangathana.

Addressing the farmers, Raju Shetti said, “Aaj Kisaan yahan pe nange aaye hai, aur asliyat ye hai ki kisaanon ne iss sarkaar ko nanga kardiya hai. Ye hakikat leke hum yahan aaye hai, Narendra Modi ko chetawani dene.” He added, “Desh ki azaadi ke baad pehli baar kisan iss tarah ek manch pe aaye hai. Agle saal lal quile se bhashan kaun dega ye ab kisan tai karenge.” (The farmers of the nation walked naked today, but the truth is that the farmers have exposed the Narendra Modi government, we are here to warn him and his regime., This is the first time in independent India’s history that farmers have come together like this, it is up to them to decide who will give the speech next year from the Red Fort.

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Riding on the wave of farmer angst against the Modi government, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah took on Modi for his ‘dictatorial tactics’, assuring them that their parties would make the farmers’ agenda an electoral during the Lok Sabha poll next year.

Speaking  with Newsclick, Hannan Mollah, General Secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), said, “Kisan akela nahi, aaj hum sab kisan ke saath khade hai, yahi humein 2019 ke chunaav main BJP ko dikhana hai, unke jhoothe vaadon ka natija unke saamne lana hai.” (The farmers of this nation are not alone, the entire nation is standing by them today, the same approach needs to be translated in the 2019 elections to show BJP the consequences of their false promises.”

While seeking votes, the BJP government had promised the farmers complete loan waiver, 1.5 times cost over the cost of production of the farm produce, fair price of commodities and doubling for farmer incomes.

Highlighting the inadequacy and false promises made by the BJP government, Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the CPI (M), said “Agricultural growth was already slow in other governments. However, in the last five years, agricultural growth has seen a decline like no other. It has come down from 5.2 % to 2.5%. Not just this, the BJP government instead functioned to protect the interests of big corporates by doling them benefits, big chunks of land in the name of industrial growth and development projects.”

Shedding light on the plight of the displaced, Pratibha Shinde of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha said, “They (the BJP) have ensured that the land of the farmers and the tribals gets taken over by big corporates, the slogan of this government has been, Kisaan ko vayda, companies ko fayda ( make promises to the farmers, benefit the corporates.”

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Ahead of the 2019 polls, while the BJP and RSS are convening Dharma Sabhas and polarising voters in Kashi and Ayodhya, farmers and the common people of the country are convening their own Parliament to set the agenda for the future.

The march in Delhi today was modelled on the lines of the Kisan Long March in Nashik earlier this year, With the upcoming worker’s strike on the January 8-9 and the demand draft of the farmer’s movement, the fight of the common people of the country against Modi’s government is only set to intensify.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in
 

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]]> In Images: Farmers Come Knocking On the Doors of Power https://sabrangindia.in/images-farmers-come-knocking-doors-power-0/ Fri, 30 Nov 2018 11:11:39 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/11/30/images-farmers-come-knocking-doors-power-0/ Since yesterday, thousands of Indian farmers have marched to Delhi with their demands. While they had originally intended to march to Parliament, the Delhi police has managed to restrict them to Jantar Mantar, where leaders of the Opposition, including the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, and Sitaram Yechury, are addressing them.    India’s farmers […]

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]]> Since yesterday, thousands of Indian farmers have marched to Delhi with their demands. While they had originally intended to march to Parliament, the Delhi police has managed to restrict them to Jantar Mantar, where leaders of the Opposition, including the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, and Sitaram Yechury, are addressing them. 

 

India’s farmers are in distress. Over three lakh farmers have committed suicide in the twenty-year period between 1995 and 2015. In 2015, the government stopped publishing farmer suicide data. But even a simple trip out of any Indian city, into the countryside, a simple walk through countless Indian villages, is enough to know that our farmers do not enjoy the same privileges, the same quality of life as we in the city do. And yet, there is unprecedented disinterest and apathy about the plight of those who grow our food. The farmer is all but absent from our consciousness – from mass cinema, TV, and news, to government policies. Successive governments have either looked away while India’s farm crisis grew manifold or actively contributed to it. For instance, does anyone even know who Narendra Modi’s agriculture minister is? So now, make their voice heard, the farmers have marched into Delhi. Under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), thousands of farmers from all corners of India have arrived in the capital to knock at the doors of the Parliament of India. They have a simple demand – save India’s farmers by passing laws that guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for their produce, and grant them a comprehensive farm loan waiver. Here are the marchers in images taken by eminent journalists and activists.

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]]> Why Thousands Of Farmers Marched To Delhi, Kolkata And Mumbai: Answers And Anger In India’s Fastest-Growing Farm Economy https://sabrangindia.in/why-thousands-farmers-marched-delhi-kolkata-and-mumbai-answers-and-anger-indias-fastest/ Fri, 30 Nov 2018 06:19:42 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/11/30/why-thousands-farmers-marched-delhi-kolkata-and-mumbai-answers-and-anger-indias-fastest/ Budha (Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh): Some 300 km north-west of capital Bhopal, in the heart of India, amidst dense neem trees, is a courtyard that could determine the electoral fate of this state–and the events that unfolded here explains why farmers marched to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata in the last week of November 2018. A farmer […]

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]]> Budha (Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh): Some 300 km north-west of capital Bhopal, in the heart of India, amidst dense neem trees, is a courtyard that could determine the electoral fate of this state–and the events that unfolded here explains why farmers marched to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata in the last week of November 2018.

MP Farmers
A farmer waits for his turn to sell his produce at Mandsaur agriculture produce market in MP

The courtyard here in Budha village was the epicentre of the 2017 farmers’ protests across Madhya Pradesh (MP) –a state that depends on agriculture for 30% of its income and reported 10.9% annual growth in its agricultural sector for eight years to 2015–India’s fastest.

The protest spiralled out from Budha and turned violent after six farmers were killed as police fired  on them at Mandsaur. It has been a rallying point for the farmers’ movement in MP ever since. These farmers were demanding higher minimum support prices (MSP)–the subsidies the government pays them to offset low market prices–and loan waivers, demands that are now common nationwide.

At the core of the farm protests sweeping MP lies a deeper crisis– a fractured farm economy, where 46% of households are indebted. As many as 1,321 farmers committed suicide in MP in 2016, the highest since 2013, according to the government data presented in Lok Sabha on March 20, 2018. While farm suicides dropped by 10% elsewhere in the country in two years to 2016, MP saw a 21% jump.

The story of MP’s farmers is the story of India’s farmers in an era of record harvests. India grew more foodgrain in 2017 than ever before, and the government’s agriculture budget rose 111% over four years to 2017-18, as IndiaSpend reported in January 2018. Yet prices crashed, unpaid agricultural loans grew 20% over the year to 2017, and 600 million Indians who depend on farming struggled to get by.

India was swept by about a dozen major farm protests in 2018, with thousands of farmers travelling to Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai in the last week of November 2018 alone.

On November 29, 2018, more than 100,000 farmers from many states and more than 200 farm organisations streamed in to Delhi. They gathered at the Ramlila maidan, site for protests and celebrations over decades, demanding a special parliamentary session and the passage of two private members’ bills–also known as Kisan Mukti bills (farmer freedom bills). These propose that MSP be made a legal requirement, the government buy all harvested crops and a debt relief commission be established to hold off debt recovery for up to three years in distressed areas and reschedule and waive certain loans.

The same day, more than 1,000 km east in Kolkata, farmers from across the state of West Bengal gathered to demand loan waivers and the establishment of industries on farm land taken over by the government.

Underlying these protests are data that reveal the decline in India’s agriculture economy: The number of farmers dipped by over 8.6 million over 10 years to 2011, according to Census 2011, and the number of farm labourers increased by more than 37 million. The number of small and marginal farmers–with farms smaller than 5 acres or the size of four football fields–rose by 27 million over 15 years to 2015-16 to reach 126 million, as per the latest agriculture census.

Nearly 70% of India’s 90 million agricultural households spend more than they earn on average each month, pushing them towards debt, the primary reason for more than half farmer suicides recorded nationwide, IndiaSpend reported on June 27, 2017. Over 10 years to 2016, more than 142,000 farmers committed suicide in India.

“Farmers have been working quietly without ever complaining all these years, but how long can we wait for  governments to turn their attention to us?” Hariom Patidar (39), one of the farmers gathered in the courtyard in Budha on November 13, 2018, told IndiaSpend. “So we are demanding it now”.

The courtyard where half a dozen farmers had gathered has seen more than a dozen gatherings of hundreds of farmers over October and November 2018. The agenda of the meetings remained the same: Urging farmers in MP and across India to choose governments sensitive to farmers in both the state elections and in the 2019 general elections.

Unrest over low remunerative prices and uncertain claim settlements under a national crop insurance scheme could hurt the popularity of BJP–currently the ruling party–in the upcoming 2019 general elections, said farmers gathered on the courtyard in Budha.

Food and trade analyst Devinder Sharma said that successive governments have been trying to push farmers out of agriculture. “For them, the best way (to do this) is to make agriculture economically unviable,” he said.

In Madhya Pradesh, agriculture gets only 6.7% of the state’s budget. Of the state’s own revenues, 87% goes towards payment of salaries, pensions and dealing with interest obligations, said Sharma. Other states also spend a large proportion of their revenues on salaries, pensions and interests payments — Chhattisgarh (92%), Punjab (88%) and Rajasthan (115%), for example, he pointed out.

All of these states are heavily dependent of farm economy but where is the investment for farmers? asked Sharma.

Small farmers have been the worst-hit by the crop price crash. They have no safety nets like institutional credit and savings to protect them against such shocks. We followed one such farmer from his farm to the mandi to understand why market forces are loaded against small cultivators.

Why Girdhari Lal’s onion harvest sold at just Rs 1.20 a kilo
A resident of Dalawada village in Mandsaur, Girdhari Lal (55) is a marginal farmer — a category of cultivators who own no more than 2.5 acres of land, the size of two football fields combined. On November 13, 2018, he stood loading 5 quintals of onions, reaped the day before, onto a shared truck to take it to the Mandsaur agriculture produce market, 40 km away. This is one of the biggest agriculture markets for onions in the country.

Lal spent the entire night waiting for market officials to arrive and fix the price for his onions. Short of sleep, with just a samosa and cup of tea to keep him going for over eight hours, he sat with his produce scattered around him on an open ground in the market.

It was almost noon when an official of the market, surrounded by a bunch of traders, walked in. He inspected every onion mound, mentioned a basic bidding rate and soon as he heard a bigger number from the traders, signed the official slip to sell the pile.


Girdhari Lal (55), a marginal farmer, sold his onions for Rs 1.20 per kg, after spending Rs 6 per kg to grow and harvest them.

The official then walked up to Lal’s produce. “120… 120…120,” the bidding began. And stopped, no one had come up with a higher rate. “Rate per quintal: [Rs] 120”: read the pink slip handed to Lal.

Lal got Rs 600 for a harvest that took four months of work, Rs 1.20 per kilo. Since transportation had cost Rs 60 a quintal, all that he took home from the market that day was Rs 300, or 60 paise a kg. He had hoped for at least Rs 15 a kg, said Lal.

“It does not even cover what I owe the labourers, let alone my family expenses,” he said, his voice calm despite the disappointment. “This is our [farmer’s] fate… we will die struggling to barely manage a meal for our family.”

The issue of fair remunerative prices is agitating farmers across India.

“If the MSP has been announced, why are we forced to sell our crops below that? Is it not what it means… a ‘minimum price’ for a crop?” said Hariom. To explain their despair with the current agriculture market, the farmers did the calculations for IndiaSpend on a sheet of paper.
MP’s farmers have suffered losses in most major kharif crops in 2018. The worst-hit were soybean and black gram — where losses were to the extent of 30%. The state contributes 31% and 25% respectively of the national output of these crops.

Mung bean and sesame fetched some profit but at margins that are “not enough”, according to the farmers. Also these profits were calculated on a ‘maximum realised price’ which they do not get very often, they said.

The sesame crop takes 90-100 days to mature, so if one hectare of crop fetches a profit of Rs 9,000, it gets an entire farmer family Rs 90/day. This is even less than what a farm labourer earns, pointed out Dileep Patidar (43), a farmer from Budha.

Despite a 9.4% growth in the state’s agriculture GDP over 15 years to 2014-15– far better than the national average of 3.3% between 2000-01 and 2012-13 — the average monthly income of an agricultural household in MP is Rs 6,210, which lags behind the national average of Rs 6,426 (July 2012-June 2013), Mint reported in June 2017.

Farmers should at least fetch Rs 4,500-5,000 for soybean, more than Rs 3,300 for garlic and Rs 1,500-1,800 for onions, if they want to make any profit, but this seems impossible, Dileep said.


Onions pile up in MP’s Mandsaur agriculture market. They sold for a 1/5th of what it cost to grow them.

Bhavantar Yojna: Why farmers are unhappy with the govt price scheme
After the June 2017  Mandsaur protest, the BJP government in the state adopted a different approach towards price support for farmers. It launched the Mukhya Mantri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojna (chief minister’s price difference payment scheme) commonly known as the Bhavantar Yojna in October 2017. The scheme, pitched by the BJP as a game-changer, pays farmers the difference between the market price and the MSP if the market is depressed.

“Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojna is proving to be a boon for the farmers of MP, getting them fair prices,” chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said at a public rally in January 2018.

“Boon? It is a curse for farmers,” retorted Bharat Patidar (35), a farmer in Budha. “We were happy to hear about the yojna but we eventually realised it has many flaws.”   

In the 2018 kharif (monsoon crop) season, Bharat had sown urad or black gram pulse on a larger acreage in his fields expecting good returns. But his name was excluded from the list of those entitled to sell their crop under the scheme because of an alleged mix-up in the revenue department’s registration process.    

“The revenue department official without even coming on my farm to survey, fraudulently registered my crop as soybean on papers instead of urad,” Bharat said.  “So my produce did not match the revenue department’s papers.”

The farmer, distressed by the thought of losing thousands of rupees, tried to explain his plight to the officials. “Nobody listened, never heard back from them,” he said. “I had to sell my produce at a very low rate in the market. It was a huge loss for me, I had taken a big loan.”
Farmers pointed out another problem with the Bhavantar Yojna — it takes into account the average produce per hectare decided by the revenue department after a survey. So, if a farmer grows 12 quintal in a hectare and the revenue department’s average yield is 7 quintal per hectare, he will be eligible only for benefits in line with the government average.  

With 8 hectares of land, Bharat is a medium-scale farmer, among the only 4% in this category in the state where small and marginal holdings dominate (80%), according to a 2016 report by the central agriculture ministry. Small and marginal farmers anyway find it hard to benefit from the scheme.

“The government usually flags off the Bhavantar Yojna a month into the harvest season,” said Hariom. “This one-month gap excludes most small and marginal farmers from the scheme because most of them sell their produce in this period — they need instant cash to repay their debts and prepare for the next crop.”

The scheme is applicable for just two months during the crop marketing season. This means that most of the season’s produce lands up in the market during this two-month window sending prices crashing, said Kedar Sirohi, president of Kisan Congress, a farmers’ collective, MP.  

If the government were to allow this scheme to continue throughout the year farmers could store their produce and sell it when the market is strong, suggested Sirohi. “This will also reduce the burden on the taxpayer whose money is used for funding the scheme,” he said.


A group of farmers gathered in a courtyard in Budha village in Mandsaur district of MP. The courtyard was the epicenter of farm protests in 2017.

Also, the government does not pay for the entire difference between the MSP and the realised price.

“Let’s take an example of the garlic crop which is coming into the markets these days,” Dileep said. “It is selling at Rs 200 per quintal whereas the declared MSP is Rs 3,200. Going by the name of the scheme the government should pay the farmer the remaining Rs 3000 but then the government has capped the payable sum at Rs 800 per quintal”.

The “cap” Dileep referred is mentioned in the fine-print of the scheme — the government will only pay the difference between the average price, not actual market price the farmer gets, and the MSP. In the case of garlic, the government took the average market price as Rs 2,400. Thus, even after availing the scheme and getting Rs 800 from the government, a farmer who sold his garlic crop at Rs 200 in the market, will still lose about Rs 2,200 on every quintal.  

While adding the average market price clause, the government did not take into account the likelihood of traders colluding to keep prices down. A few months after the launch of the scheme, traders allegedly hammered down the average price of the crops like soybean and black gram pulse by buying at rates lower those in the market, Scroll.in reported in June 2018.

“The fate of the farmers has not changed much; we are selling milk at Rs 18-22 per litre while it used to sell at Rs 30-35/litre a few years back and other produce like soybean at a loss of 20-30%,” Dileep said.


Deelip Patidar, a farmer who took part in the 2017’s farmers’ protest in Mandsaur.

Why farmers are unhappy with crop insurance
Bharat Patidar is insured under the Pradhan Mantri  Fasal Beema Yojna (PMFBY) or Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme since it was launched in 2016, but he has not benefitted from it even once so far, he said.

During the last kharif crop, Rs 11,000 were deducted from Bharat’s account for the insurance. So when the production was low due to lack of rainfall, he was hoping to get the claim under the insurance.

“To my surprise, a farm adjacent to mine, but falling under a neighbouring village Limbawas, received the claim but I did not,” Bharat said. “When I asked around in the farmer’s network, I realised that the claims were only settled in villages with small number of farmers and all the large villages were excluded. What kind of logic is this?”

In the villages which received claims this kharif season, compensations were different even in neighbouring villages. Rinchha village in Mandsaur received a compensation of Rs 7,000 per hectare but Barujana next door got only Rs 1,500 per hectare, Dileep told IndiaSpend.
MP has the the third largest number of farmers insured under PMFBY and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) combined during kharif 2017– 3.5 million. Maharashtra with 8.7 million farmers and Rajasthan with 5.3 million farmers held the first and second positions, according to the scheme’s online portal.

However, no more than 46% of insured farmers in MP received their claims, as per data.


Source: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojna Portal
Data for Kharif 2017 (PMFBY and RWBCIS Combined Till Oct 1, 2018]

What the farm crisis could mean for BJP’s popularity in MP
About 75% of the more than 50 million voters in MP — 70% of the working population in the state survives on agricultural income — turned up at 65,000 polling stations on November 28, 2018, to choose their next government.

The results will be declared on December 11, 2018 but here are what pre-poll surveys showed: A Times Now survey—before exit polls were banned till December 7, 2018–suggested that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government will bag a fourth-term in MP. BJP could win 122 of 230 seats, crossing the halfway-mark, said the poll.

A couple of other exit polls, done earlier this year, predicted a Congress win.  The party will get a 49% vote share and BJP 34%, said the May 2018 joint survey conducted by Lokniti, the Centre for Developing Societies (CSDS) and ABP. A poll by CVoter and ABP in August 2018 predicted a 42% vote share for the Congress and 40% for the BJP. A second poll by Lokniti-CSDS-ABP done more recently in October 2018, however, suggested that BJP (41%) will take a one-point lead over the Congress (40%) in MP.

Whatever the results, it is clear that the farm crisis has impacted the BJP’s popularity in the state and the party’s campaigners admit as much.

“Bhavantar Yojna is a good scheme but the farmers’ have been complaining that process to avail money under this scheme is complicated,” said Nihar Chand, a member of the BJP’s state working committee who has been campaigning in Mandsaur. “Farmers also question us about the irregularities in the crop insurance scheme, about the frauds committed by revenue officials in surveys.”

BJP campaigners had gone from village to village trying to convince farmers that their problems would be resolved soon. Farmers appear unconvinced.


A dilapidated building reads a message to farmers of Budha village in Mandsaur district of MP. 

This government talks about Hindu-Muslim issues, the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, but they never utter a single word about MSP, they do not feel responsible for the farmers’ distress, said Hariom. “I am going to vote for the party which will make farmers’ issues its priority, and the Congress party seems to be doing that in their campaign,” he said.

Bharat warned politicians against underestimating the political strength of farmers. “Today farmers are educated enough to understand that their leaders have wronged them,” he said. “They will sit on dharna, block roads, fast unto death, do whatever they can to to be heard and get what they deserve,” he said.

(Tripathi is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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]]> Kisan Kranti Padyatra: Police fires tear gas and water cannons at protesting farmers https://sabrangindia.in/kisan-kranti-padyatra-police-fires-tear-gas-and-water-cannons-protesting-farmers/ Wed, 03 Oct 2018 07:48:39 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/10/03/kisan-kranti-padyatra-police-fires-tear-gas-and-water-cannons-protesting-farmers/ 20 people, including farmers and police personnel, were injured in the clash between the protesters and security personnel on Gandhi Jayanti.  New Delhi: An estimated 30,000 farmers were peacefully marching towards the national capital on Tuesday when the police fired water cannons and tear gas shells at them besides using lathi charge to disperse them. […]

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]]> 20 people, including farmers and police personnel, were injured in the clash between the protesters and security personnel on Gandhi Jayanti. 

farmers protest

New Delhi: An estimated 30,000 farmers were peacefully marching towards the national capital on Tuesday when the police fired water cannons and tear gas shells at them besides using lathi charge to disperse them. Many have condemned the govt and police action as it happened on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who espoused non-violent views.
 
“Close to 20 people, including farmers and police personnel, were injured in the clash between the protesters and security personnel at the Delhi-UP gate border on NH-24 when the Delhi Police denied them entry into the capital around 11.30 am on Tuesday. Police had used tear gas shells and water cannons when a group of protesters tried to break the iron and concrete barriers by ramming their tractor-trolleys into them,” reported Hindustan Times.
 
The ‘Kisan Kranti Padyatra’ led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, marched from Haridwar on September 23 to reach New Delhi on Tuesday with their 15-point charter of demands including loan waivers, clearance of pending sugarcane payments and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee Report. No incidences of violence or trouble were reported throughout the route.

The police, anticipating trouble, barricaded the borders and prohibited their entry from all points.


 
“The farmers have also demanded loan waivers and free electricity for running tubewells. They said the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna should be made applicable to all crops and premium must be paid by the government. The other demands include the assurance of a minimum income for farmers and a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for small and marginal farmers who completed 60 years of age. They have also demanded rehabilitation of families of farmers who had committed suicide. The farmers also want that diesel tractors should be kept out of the ambit of National Green Tribunal directions that have mandated the removal of all diesel vehicles older than 10 years from the National Capital Region,” the report said.
 
The protestors called off the protest march on Wednesday after reaching their target destination and said that the government had agreed to most of their demands and an official announcement will be made in six days.  
 
“Around 5,000 farmers were allowed into Delhi post midnight and reached their targeted destination, Kisan Ghat, and left by 6 am,” deputy commissioner of police (east) Pankaj Singh said in the report.


 
“The government has also assured the farmers of bearing the costs for the repair of tractors that were damaged during the standoff with the police at Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border on Tuesday,” said an agency report.
 

Activists and politicians condemn the violence against farmers
 
The All India Kisan Mazdoor Sangh (AIKMS) condemned the tear gas shelling and lathi charge on farmers. AIKMS had organised the Kisan Long March in Maharashtra earlier this year.
 
“AIKMS has strongly condemned the severe lathi charge, tear gas and water cannon charging on protesting peasants on the outskirts of Delhi today by the Anti-National, Anti-peasant Modi govt,” Dr. Ashish Mital, Gen Secy of AIKMS said.
 
“Since Modi govt came to power, peasants have been at the receiving end of his pro corporate, pro MNC policies, veiled behind false and fake promises of doubling farmers income, provision of employment, end to corruption. Both GST and Note Ban ruined farmers and small agro-producers wholesale. The steep rise in diesel and electricity prices, along with the withdrawal of fertilizer subsidy has broken their back and raised debts. Sugarcane farmers have been shortchanged with rising dues and interest on debts, with Yogi mocking at them for promoting diabetes. Suicides have continued unabated. MSP promise of C2 + 50% is being drowned under loud media hype around insincere, miniscule raise. Corruption in procurement and welfare has increased unashamedly and with contempt. Attempts by farmers to appeal to the democratic sense of is being crushed by an inhuman and fascist police administrative force. Foreign corporates, Walmart and co and their middlemen are being promoted at the expense of the grain growers,” he said.
 
“AIKMS condemns this repression and announces intensification of protests around the country to protest this. It calls upon all democratic forces to oppose Modi govt’s policies and force it to reverse its anti-people policies and punish the police for attacking the peasants,” he said.
 
Many in the opposition objected to how the farmers were treated and said that the Modi led govt only served its rich friends and not the youth, women or farmers.
 
“45-year-old Yasin Khan from UP’s Muzaffarnagar was among those hit by tear gas shells. His family of eight is dependent on sugarcane farming for whatever money they make. ‘The brutality of the police and the Modi government on unarmed farmers is unacceptable. We walked peacefully for 250 km and they couldn’t even tolerate us here for the rest of our journey. We don’t have money to send our kids to school. We don’t even have enough to feed them,’ Mr Khan said in a report by NDTV.
 
“Given that there was no violence along the route the farmers took from Haridwar to the Delhi border on the BKU’s call, questions were asked why Delhi police — which reports to the Centre — had been instructed not to allow them to enter the capital as planned. More so because just last month, the capital had witnessed a violence-free mobilisation of farmers by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). The only difference between the two mobilisations was that in the case of the AIKS Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Rally, the majority came from far-off places and reached Delhi by train,” reported Telegraph.
 
“Farmers are not terrorists or Naxalites, they are coming with demands. Don’t they have the right to do that? The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government killed farmers in Mandsaur, today they are about to lose MP. Warning Modiji (that) if injustice with farmers continue, he will lose Delhi,” Swabhimani Paksha leader Raju Shetti said in the report. Shetti quit the NDA earlier this year in protest against the BJP’s failure to keep promises made to farmers in its manifesto.
 
“Taking a dig at the promise of “achchhe din (good days)” slogan of the BJP in 2014, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said the Modi government had turned Shastri’s famous ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ slogan into ‘Mar Jawan, Mar Kisan’ on his birth anniversary,” the report said.
 

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted in support of the farmers.
 

 
“India’s agricultural GDP was roughly Rs 27 trillion in 2016; the numerous subsidies to agriculture came to about Rs 4.5 trillion, or a sixth of the agriculturists’ income. And then, Rs 3.4 trillion was taken away from them in the form of subsidies to consumers, mainly in the form of lower-than-market prices. This financial skulduggery required that domestic agriculture must be insulated from the international market by means of tariffs: agricultural tariffs averaged 32 per cent, about three times industrial tariffs. That was not enough; quantitative restrictions minimized imports and exports. The result was that agriculture, which would otherwise be internationally competitive, was prevented from prospering by exporting. And what is the point of this elaborate rigmarole? It keeps an army of politicians and bureaucrats busy, happy and rich. Democracy is an excellent system for administering a country, but our version of it is close to the worst,” reported The Telegraph.
 

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]]> Over 45,000 farm and labour activists court arrest in their ‘Jail Bharo’ stir https://sabrangindia.in/over-45000-farm-and-labour-activists-court-arrest-their-jail-bharo-stir/ Fri, 10 Aug 2018 11:04:23 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/08/10/over-45000-farm-and-labour-activists-court-arrest-their-jail-bharo-stir/ They agitated against what they called a pro-corporate, anti-people, communal and divisive BJP-RSS government led by Modi and asked the party to ‘Quit India,’ with the slogan ‘BJP Hatao, Desh Bachao.”   The organisers of Kisan Long March came through with their promises when they organized a ‘Jail Bharo’ stir in Maharashtra on August 9. […]

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]]> They agitated against what they called a pro-corporate, anti-people, communal and divisive BJP-RSS government led by Modi and asked the party to ‘Quit India,’ with the slogan ‘BJP Hatao, Desh Bachao.”

Kisan Jail Bharo
 
The organisers of Kisan Long March came through with their promises when they organized a ‘Jail Bharo’ stir in Maharashtra on August 9.
 
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and CPI related Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) claim to have succeeded in their mission to fill jails and demand better actions and relief for farmers, removal of the ruling party from governance and more.
 
In a message, they said, “Over 21,000 court arrest in Thane-Palghar district, 18,000 in Nashik district, 5000 in Solapur district and more. The August 9 Jail Bharo struggle by the AIKS-CITU has been a massive success in over 25 districts all over Maharashtra, with the AIAWU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI also pooling in their strength in this stir. Nearly 45,000 people have courted arrest in the three districts of Thane-Palghar, Nashik and Solapur alone.”

Kisan Jail Bharo
 
They agitated against what they called a pro-corporate, anti-people, communal and divisive BJP-RSS government led by Modi and asked the party to ‘Quit India,’ with the slogan ‘BJP Hatao, Desh Bachao.”
 
Calls were given everywhere to make the September 5 Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh Rally and the September 4 Women’s Protest Rally in Delhi a massive success.
 
In Thane-Palghar district, braving heavy rains and setting aside their paddy cultivation, over 21,000 people blocked the roads and courted arrest in seven tehsil centres, viz Vikramgad (5500), Dahanu (3500), Wada (3000), Shahapur (3000), Talasari (2500), Jawhar (2500) and Palghar (1000). Peasant women took part everywhere in large numbers.
 
AIKS President Dr. Ashok Dhawale courted arrest at Dahanu, AIDWA General Secretary Mariam Dhawale at Vikramgad, AIKS State President Kisan Gujar and AIKS State Vice President Barkya Mangat at Talasari, AIKS State Vice President Ratan Budhar at Jawhar, CITU State Joint Secretary Vinod Nikole at Dahanu and DYFI State President Sunil Dhanwa at Wada.


 
Over 18,000 people took part in the Road Blockade and Jail Bharo stir in nine tehsils of Nashik district. The participation was as follows: Peth (8000), Dindori (2500), Tryambakeshwar (2000), Chandwad (1500), Malegaon (1100), Surgana (1000), Kalwan (1000) and Nashik city (850).
 
The actions were led in the rural areas by AIKS former State President J P Gavit, MLA, and AIKS State Office Bearers Sunil Malusare, Irfan Shaikh, Subhash Choudhary and Savliram Pawar, and in Nashik city by CITU State President Dr D L Karad and CITU State Vice President Sitaram Thombre.
 
At Solapur, it was the CITU that took the lead and over 5000 workers courted arrest at two centres. They were led by CITU former state president Narasayya Adam, CITU state General Secretary M H Shaikh, AIKS State Vice President Sidhappa Kalshetty, AIDWA State President Naseema Shaikh and others.


 
In March, over 40-50,000 farmers had laid siege in Mumbai after a long march of 180 kms from Nashik. The peaceful and effective protest was hailed by all sections of society for its maturity in the face of great deprivation and an anti-farmer government. It was called the biggest peaceful protest in the country in recent times.

 
Related articles:
Modi Regime’s Fixing of MSP on Kharif Crops a Betrayal of Promises to Farmers: AIKS
‘BJP Quit India!’ say Farmers, Dalits and Ex-Servicemen Organisations
The Battle is Not Over Yet, Say Kisan Leaders From Maharashtra
The Kisan Long March enters Mumbai, will their voices be heard?

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]]> Activists call for probe into ‘illegal detention’ related to bullet train project https://sabrangindia.in/activists-call-probe-illegal-detention-related-bullet-train-project/ Wed, 16 May 2018 11:30:39 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/05/16/activists-call-probe-illegal-detention-related-bullet-train-project/ Activists opposing the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad criticised the “illegal detention” of farmers and activists right before a consultation for the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited was held in Surat on Monday, May 14. The Bhumi Adhikar Andolan and the Shoshit Jan Andolan, based in Maharashtra and Gujarat, have written to the National […]

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]]> Activists opposing the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad criticised the “illegal detention” of farmers and activists right before a consultation for the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited was held in Surat on Monday, May 14. The Bhumi Adhikar Andolan and the Shoshit Jan Andolan, based in Maharashtra and Gujarat, have written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), calling for a probe into the detention of Jayeshbhai Patel, a senior activist, Krishnakant Chauhan, an elected member of the local panchayat, and others. The detainees were released in the evening on May 14. 

Farmers
Representative Image

Chauhan, an activist with the Prayavarn Suraksha Samiti, said, “We were picked up without being given any reasons just before the start of the consultation, and taken to Umra police station in Surat. This was to stop us from creating any more awareness about the project.” Brian Lobo, an activist who is leading the organisations supporting tribals and farmers who will be impacted by the bullet train project in Maharashtra, opined that the activists were detained to prevent them from bringing up “uncomfortable” issues at the consultation. Lobo said this was “in violation of basic human and democratic rights. The administration, falling prey to pressure from the Central government, is trying to muzzle the voices of dissent of those who are fighting to protect their livelihood”. Ulka Mahajan, an activist for tribal rights, had previously said that stakeholders involved had not been afforded any time to get ready for previous consultations, adding that the NHRC “must inquire into this detention and take action against all those responsible”. 

In April 2018, farmers from neighbouring states congregated at a joint meeting in Surat to stand against the land acquisitions involved in the bullet train project. Around 312 villages in Maharashtra and Gujarat stand to lose their land. Moreover, the project also requires the acquisition of 7,974 plots of land possessed by the Railways and forest authorities. 

Demonstrations have already resulted in the suspension of utility mapping, geotechnical investigations and hydrological survey on a 90km alignment in Palghar. Activists have also cautioned about the possibility of green cover loss.

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