Tag: Farmer protests

Farmers continue to block railway tracks in Punjab; here’s why they are protesting

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Farmers in Punjab have been staging protests, demanding compensation for the kin of those who died during the year-long protests against the controversial farm laws that were finally repealed during the Winter Session of Parliament.

The “rail roko” demonstration, organised under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), began on Monday. The protests have spread across Amritsar, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, and Tarn Taran. Rail services have been affected in these areas.

Even after the Centre’s withdrawal of the unpopular farm laws, farmers across India, and especially in the North, continue to have grievances.

Why are the farmers protesting? 

Farmer groups have put forth several demands that have not yet been met by the central and state governments.

The farmers under the KMSC, in particular, are demanding compensation for the kin of those who died during the anti-farm law stir. Alongside demands for compensation, the farmers are also demanding a complete loan waiver. Some other demands include compensation for damaged crops at Rs 50,000 per acre, release of pending payments for the sugarcane crop and abolition of the contract system.

The demonstrators are also asking for the withdrawal of criminal charges against the protestors who took part in the farm laws stir.

Satnam Singh Pannu, a farmer leader, had stated that the dharna will continue until all of the demands of the farmers are met, reported PTI.

Paramjit Singh Ghloti, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), added, “We are agitating against the non-implementation of the promises made by the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The government is befooling farmers.”

How have trains been affected? 

With farmers sitting on various railway tracks as part of their demonstrations, rail services across various parts of Punjab have been disrupted. Over 150 trains were disrupted from the normal schedule as a result.

“84 trains were cancelled, 47 were short-terminated and 25 were short-originated,” Ferozepur division railway officials told PTI.

Cancelled trains include the Amritsar-Jaynagar Saryu Yamuna Express (14650), Amritsar-Nanded Superfast (12422), Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express (12412), Amritsar-Howrah Express (13006), Amritsar-Mumbai Golden Temple Express (12904), Amritsar-Darbhanga Jannayak Express (15212) and Amritsar-Dehradun Express (14632).

Read Also | Rail roko: Farmers squat on rail tracks; 150 locations in the Northern Railway zone affected

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Farm laws repealed: Farmer union lays down list of demands to call off protests

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) which is an umbrella body of farmers unions held a mahapanchayat in Lucknow today. The SKM has been leading the protests against the farm laws.

Speaking at the congregation, farmer union leader Rakesh Tikait called on the government to invite the farmers for talks so they can start going home. On Friday, the Prime Minister had announced that farm laws will be repealed, but farmers have laid down a list of demands to call off the protest.

SKM has demanded that MSP based on the comprehensive cost of production, that is C2+50 percent formula be made a legal entitlement for all farmers for all agricultural produce.

Also Read: Gather in large numbers at protest sites on 1st anniversary of agitation on Nov 26: SKM to farmers

Secondly, it has demanded the withdrawal of the draft “Electricity Amendments Bill, 2020/2021” proposed by the Centre. It has also demanded the removal of penal provisions on farmers in the “Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas Act 2021.” It has demanded Section 15 of the act which allows a possibility for penal action against farmers in case of stubble burning is removed.

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SC farmers protest hearing HIGHLIGHTS: CJI Bobde-led bench stays implementation of 3 farm laws, sets up panel to resolve impasse

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SC farmers protest hearing HIGHLIGHTS: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of controversial new farm laws till further orders and decided to set up a committee to resolve the impasse over them between the Centre and farmers’ unions protesting at Delhi borders. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said that it will pass an order to this effect. The committee will look into the farmers’ grievances against the three new laws.

During the hearing, the top court sought the cooperation of the protesting farmers and made it clear that no power can prevent it from setting up a committee to resolve the impasse over the controversial farm laws.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of the three laws—the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act—against which several petitions have been filed challenging their constitutional validity.

The four members of the committee set up by the apex court are BKU president Bhupinder Singh Mann, Shetkeri Sangathana, Maharashtra president Anil Ghanwat, Pramod Kumar Joshi, director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute, and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vilifying private enterprise threatens to push back India to the 70s

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The farmers’ protest against the Farm Laws, 2020 passed by Parliament is stuck in a prolonged stalemate. A few farmers’ unions have taken the adamant position to repeal all the farm laws and implement other maximalist demands. Other demands include giving legal status to the minimum support price (MSP), rolling over the proposed reforms in the electricity sector, revoking the Commission of Air Quality in NCR and adjoining areas, and reducing diesel price by 50 percent for agricultural activities.

It is not difficult to see that these demands are untenable. Not only are they economically unviable, but amount to a complete rollback of economic reforms. In the name of farmers’ protest, we are seeing the insistence by one set of private producers, farmers, to force the government to assure them the desired price for their produce and subsidize the production too. Moreover, the route adopted is not limited to democratic protests and campaigns but also attempts to impose a street veto on Parliament by road blockades and attacks on private property.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Farmer leaders ready to resume talks with Government on December 29

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The protesting farmer unions on Saturday decided to resume their dialogue with the government and have proposed December 29 as the date for the next round of talks to resolve the deadlock over the Centre’s three farm laws.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various Delhi border points against the new agriculture laws.

Addressing a press conference, farmer leaders made it clear that the modalities for the repeal of three farm laws and guarantee for MSP — minimum support price at which the government procures crops from farmers — should be part of the agenda for resuming talks with the government.

At the press conference, farmer leader Darshan Pal said that it was also decided that farmers will hold tractor march on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) highway on December 30 in protest against the Centre’s agri laws.

“We request people from Delhi and other parts of country to come and celebrate New Year with protesting farmers,” Pal said.

Another farmer leader, Rajinder Singh, said, “We will march from Singhu to Tikri to KMP. We ask farmers from surrounding states to come in huge numbers in their trolleys and tractors. If the govt doesn’t want us to block the KMP highway, then they better announce the repeal of the three farm laws.”

In a letter to Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Vivek Aggarwal, the Morcha said, “We propose that the next meeting between the farmers’ representatives and the Government of India be held on December 29 2020 at 11 am.”

“As the government is willing to hold talks with us and asking us for date and our issues, we have proposed to hold dialogue on December 29. Now, the ball is in the court of government when it calls us for talks,” Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told PTI.

According to the letter, the agenda proposed by the protesting unions includes amendments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions.

The farmer unions also demanded that changes in the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 to protect the interests of farmers should also be part of the agenda for the next round of dialogue.

Earlier this week, Aggarwal had written to the 40 protesting unions and invited them for fresh talks, but made it clear that it would not be “logical” to include in the agenda any new demand related to the MSP, which is out of the purview of the three new farm laws.

“Unfortunately, your (Aggarwal’s) letter continues the government’s attempt to mislead the public by suppressing true facts about the deliberations in the previous meetings. We have consistently demanded the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts, whereas the government has distorted our position as if we were asking for amendments to these Acts.

“If you are sincere about respectfully listening to the farmers, as you say in your letter, the government must not indulge in misinformation about the previous meetings. The campaign launched by the entire state machinery to defame and malign the farmers’ movement must stop forthwith,” the Sankyukta Kisan Morcha said in its letter.

Thousands of farmers have been camping at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for nearly a month, demanding repeal of three agri laws enacted in September and a legal guarantee on minimum support price.

While the government has presented these laws as major reforms aimed at helping farmers, protesting unions have maintained these acts will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the mandi and MSP systems.

On Wednesday, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, had asked the government to not repeat the proposal of “meaningless” amendments that they have already rejected but to come up with a “concrete offer” in writing for the resumption of talks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday squarely blamed those with a political agenda for the deadlock in the Centre’s talks with the protesting farmers and asserted that his government was willing to hold dialogues with all, including those staunchly opposed to it, as long as talks are based on farm issues, facts and logic.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Majority of Indians support new farm laws, want protests to be called off, News18 Network survey finds

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Amid protests around the national capital against the new agricultural reforms introduced by the Modi government, a survey conducted by the News18 Network has found a majority of Indians support the implementation of the new laws and think the agitation by farmers should be called off.

In the survey, conducted across 22 states with more than 2,400 respondents, a majority believed that the new farm reform laws would benefit crop growers, and data showed that support for the new legislations was strong in most agrarian states, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The only exception was Punjab, where the support was found to be a little muted in comparison as the issue of liberalisation of the agriculture sector has become highly politicised.

The survey found that overall support for the new laws across the country stood at 53.6 percent, with 56.59 percent believing it was time for the farmers to call off their protest.

The farm reforms introduced by the central government permit, for the first time, trade in agricultural produce outside the APMC regulated mandis. Private mandis can be set up across the country where anyone can buy produce from farmers. The government has said that this is designed to provide farmers with more choices on who to sell their produce to, and more buyers will lead to a better price for the farmers.

More than three out of five people News18 spoke to for the survey agreed that farmers would be able to get better prices under the new farm reform laws, and when asked about if giving farmers the choice to sell their produce outside APMC mandis was the right decision, the support grew to 73 percent.

Close to half the respondents (48.7 percent) said they felt that the opposition to the farm reforms was politically motivated, and more than half (52.69 percent) believed that the protesting farmers should not insist on repeal of the farm reform laws and must come to a compromise with the government.

The central government has held several rounds of dialogue with the farmers camping around Delhi in protest, and have offered several concessions to address their fears and concerns, but the farmer unions have insisted on the repeal of the three laws, leading to a freeze in the talks.

After six rounds of talks, the government said it offered “assurances” based exactly on what the farmers had asked for during the talks that lasted more than 20 hours, including a written guarantee for Minimum Support Price.

The support for reform and modernisation in agriculture was witnessed to be high across all regions (above 70 percent), and the highest support was recorded in southern states at 74 percent.

For the new laws introduced, the highest number of respondents from North India expressed support at 63.77 percent followed by West India at 62.90 percent. Respondents from all zones also support giving farmers the right to sell their produce outside APMC mandis.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow