The ongoing standoff between the farmers and the government on the long pending demands, particularly the legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) combined with other developments is threatening to snowball into a confrontation. The farmers have given a call for Punjab bandh today on December 30.
The Supreme Court while keeping a tab on the deteriorating health of farm leader Dallewal has reportedly asked the Punjab government to shift him to hospital or face charges of contempt of court.
The developments in the last few weeks are an indicator towards intensifying confrontation. To begin with there has been a renewed push by farmer organizations and their supporters camping at Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Haryana for a march to Delhi that has been scuttled by the authorities in Haryana.
Secondly, there is the all important concern around farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal who undertook a hunger strike since November 26, something that has been taken notice of by the Supreme Court.
And third, adding to this the central government has come up with a draft National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing that is being opposed by the farmers. Then there are local level issues galore. Together all these issues have the farm turf on fire once again.
On Monday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) which is an umbrella organization of different farm bodies across the country wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking her intervention to save Dallewal’s life, to stop repression on farmers, withdrawal of Agriculture Marketing Policy and to open a dialogue with the farmer organizations.
On the same day the farmers across the country protested against the proposed policy by burning copies of the draft.
The letter addressed to the President said, “We strongly protest against the NDA 3 led union government for not adhering to democratic principles of governance and hold discussions with all the farmers' organizations and platforms that are struggling for the genuine demands. Even the Supreme Court has asked for holding consultations with the farmers.
We strongly demand that you direct the union government to save the life of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, stop repression and tear gas shelling on farmers marching to Delhi, release all the farmers put in Luxer Jail of Gautam Buddha Nagar, withdraw the falsely implicated charges including attempt to murder on them and take stringent action against the Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh and others responsible for the conspiracy, withdraw the National Agriculture Marketing Policy, Digital Agriculture Mission and the National Co-operation Policy and immediately hold discussions with all the farmer organizations on struggle and accept the genuine long pending demands of farmers on MSP, loan waiver, privatization of electricity and implementation of Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act of 2013.”
The farmers have accused the NDA 2 government of ‘shamelessly’ violating the agreement signed with the SKM on December 9, 2021 made in the wake of the historic farmers' struggle at the Delhi borders that had ensured the repeal of the three farm acts.
They farmers further said, “The SKM had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister Nerendra Modi, Leaders of Opposition in both the houses of the Parliament and all the Members of the Parliament on July 16, 17 and 18, 2024 just after the NDA 3 government took office after the 18th Lok Sabha elections.
The farmers organized a protest against the corporate control on agriculture across the country on August 9, 2024. The SKM along with platforms of central trade unions and agricultural workers unions conducted massive worker-farmer protest demonstrations in more than 500 districts participated by nearly ten lakh people and submitted a memorandum to you through the district collectors on November 26, 2024.
It is highly unfortunate that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not ready to hold discussions with farmer organizations on struggles. Instead, consistent efforts are there to brutally suppress the struggles of farmers at Shambu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Noida - Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh by using tear gas shelling, rubber bullets, water cannons and putting hundreds of farmers in jail for holding peaceful demonstrations and dharnas.”
The most interesting is the opposition to the National Agriculture Marketing Policy. The farmers claim that the policy is ‘part of the strategy of the corporate agenda to permit backdoor resurrection of the three farm laws’.
The point towards the ‘conscious efforts in the last two years to thwart procurement in Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) markets in Punjab and Haryana, dismantle Food Corporation of India (FCI) by promoting cash transfer on food subsidy, reduction of food subsidy by Rs. 60,470 crore and fertilizer subsidy by Rs. 62,445 crore in the last three consecutive years’.
They claim that these are corporate attacks on the existing system of limited MSP and food security of the country.
The letter to the President says, “The corporate forces are challenging the working people of India and the union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serving the corporate interests only.”
Meanwhile, the introduction to the draft Agriculture Marketing Policy states , “Though in the last 10 years agriculture income has increased annually @ 5.23 % against a growth rate of 6.24% in the non- agriculture sector and 5.80 % in the economy overall thus, the difference in the growth rate of income in the agriculture and non-agriculture sector is small. The data indicates that the accelerated agricultural growth during the last two decades has been a result of diversification towards horticultural crops, livestock and fisheries, as fisheries experienced the highest growth of 9.08 % in value of output followed by the livestock sector at 5.76 % and the crop sector 2.34 % per year.
In spite of all this, it is a matter of concern that farmers, especially the small and marginal ones are still not able to draw the benefit of bumper production and growth in the agriculture sector and income as well.
A substantial gap in rural and urban economy is still visible and a large section of farmers is still struggling for optimum income. Among the major reasons identified are high fragmented landholding, high cost of production, lack of demand driven production and accessibility to good markets and optimum realization of value for their produce.
Integrated output management with application of digital public infrastructure like block-chain technology, use of innovations, capacity building through proper skilling and professionalism are the critical areas for consideration to improve farmers' income with transparency and ease. The policy identifies the pockets of satisfaction and areas for improvement as well and also modalities for improvement in possible uniform manner.
The vision of the policy framework is described as, “To build a vibrant marketing ecosystem in the country wherein farmers of all category find a market of their choice to realize best price for their produce, to be accomplished through improved efficiency, enhanced competition with multiple marketing channels and no monopolistic market structure, transparency, infrastructure and adoption of innovative digital technology and also agri value chain based marketing.”
On Monday, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) while asking the Prime Minister to accede to the farmers’ demands said, “A democracy is about listening to the voice of the people and when farmers are expressing their pain, anger and dissent, it is imperative that a government listen to them. Ignoring the protests sends out a message that the government is not responding to the concerns of the farmers who are the lifeblood of the nation. This authoritarian path of ignoring and crushing dissent taken by the Union of India does no justice to the image of India being the world’s largest democracy.”