Farmers And Workers Join Hands Ahead of 2024 Polls

The farmers in coordination with various trade unions and employees working under various schemes are regrouping ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They are airing their resentment against unresolved issues. This has been demonstrated in the three-day Mahapadavs (large gatherings or protests) held across various states of the country.

Mahapadavs started on November 26 wherein there were massive demonstrations against the ‘corporate communal policies’ of the ruling dispensation at the Centre. The protestors called for a policy change to protect the rights of farmers and workers. There was a substantial participation of women at these protests.

“This is a regrouping to float the agenda of farmers and working class on the political horizon ahead of the elections. It demonstrates the resilience and determination of the peasantry while sending a clear message of unity. The new dimension to these Mahapadavs is the coordination between the working class unions and the peasantry. There has been a strong participation by scheme workers like the Anganwadi and midday meal workers as well,” Inderjit Singh, farmer leader from Haryana, told this reporter.

The decision for this action had been taken at a united worker-peasant convention in Delhi on August 24 wherein the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) which the is the umbrella organisation of various farmer organisations and the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) had given a call organise Mahapadavs at the Raj Bhawans in the capitals of all states for three days and nights from November 26 to 28.

The dates have important significance. November 26 was the start of the unprecedented farmers’ movement against the three controversial laws in 2020 that lasted 380 days. The government was compelled to repeal the laws.

On the same day there was a massive strike by the CTUs which marked worker-peasant unity in action. It was on November 26, 1949 that the Constituent Assembly had adopted the Constitution of India. According to the Mahapadav participants all the basic principles enshrined in the Constitution are today under ‘grave threat’.

Today, November 28, is the last day of this struggle, it also marks the death anniversary of one of the foremost champions of peasantry and social justice, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule.

Pointing out at the deepening agrarian crisis the SKM has stated that it has intensified in the last three decades because of the neo-liberal policies followed by successive central governments. The SKM holds the present government by far as the worst in this regard.

“There are two glaring symptoms of the agrarian crisis in India today. The first is the shocking suicides of over 4 lakh farmers in the country in the last 30 years, mainly due to indebtedness. Of these over 1 lakh farmers were forced to commit suicide in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi regime alone.

“Farming has become non remunerative and hazardous. Lakhs of farmers have been forced to sell off their land to reduce their debt, and have thus joined the ranks of the landless,” Ashok Dhawale who is the national president of All India Kisan Sabha said.

He added, “The second symptom is the rapidly growing hunger in the country. The Global Hunger Index is an accurate pointer to this. In 2014, when the Modi regime came to power, India ranked 55 out of 120 countries in this index. Today in 2023, India has sharply slid down to 111 out of 125 countries.

“The deaths of thousands of Adivasi and Dalit children per year in some states due to starvation and malnutrition continue unabated. The big increase in anaemia, especially among women and children, is also a pointer to this malnutrition.”

Through these Mahapadavs the SKM has reiterated its demands that include a legal guarantee of a minimum support price (MSP) at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2 + 50%) as recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) chaired by the renowned agro-scientist Dr M. S. Swaminathan.

The farmers want the government to bring down the cost of production by reducing the astronomical prices of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, diesel, power, and water. This according to the farmers can be done only by strict regulation and control over the domestic and foreign corporate lobby, increase in input subsidy, cutting the abominable central government excise duty on diesel, petrol, and gas along with other measures.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election manifesto in 2014 had promised MSP as above, but like all its other promises, this too turned out to be a 'jumla'. On the contrary, the very next year, in February 2015, the BJP government shamelessly submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court, in which it said that implementing its own MSP promise was not possible because ‘it would distort the market’," Dhawale said.

The second key demand is the complete liberation from debt of the peasantry and agricultural workers through a comprehensive loan waiver. The demand is for a comprehensive crop insurance scheme to fully protect the peasantry against natural calamities like drought, floods, hailstorms, unseasonal rains, and so on.

The farmers say that these calamities are intensifying due to climate change and global warming. They allege that the present Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is useless because all available data proves that it helps the corporate insurance companies to amass massive profits and harms the farmers in distress by denying them compensation for crop damages. The fourth issue being raised is that of a substantial monthly pension to both farmers and agricultural workers.

The other vital rural issues being raised are the expansion of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) so as to double the days of work and triple the wages paid to agricultural workers; stringent implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) to vest forest land in the names of the Adivasis who have been cultivating it for generations; issues concerning land rights and land acquisition; withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and the cancellation of the anti-farmer pre-paid smart metres scheme which will sharply raise electricity bills. There are also key issues concerning expansion of irrigation; strengthening the public distribution system (PDS) to ensure food security to all.

Issues being raised for the working class include a national minimum wage of Rs 26,000 per month, abolition of the contract and casual system, repeal of the four labour codes, reversion to the old pension scheme, government employee status and resultant benefits to scheme workers, filling up of all government vacant posts, an end to privatisation and the national monetisation pipeline. The national monetisation pipeline aims to serve as a roadmap for asset monetisation of various infrastructure assets across roads, railways, shipping, aviation, power, telecom, oil and gas, and warehousing sectors.

The farmers are also calling for the dismissal and prosecution of union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni for the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre.

According to the SKM there has been large mass participation in the Mahapadavs in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Shimla, Dehradun, Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Vijayawada, Chennai, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram.

“The struggle will be intensified in the coming months by extending the struggles to the ground level ensuring massive participation of the farmers and workers. This struggle will ensure the defeat of the corporate communal nexus and ensure policy change in the country to protect the interests of the toiling people, especially the farmers and workers,” said the SKM in a statement.

A major issue being flagged is that of the glaring economic disparities in the country. “The alarming inequality in India is captured by the Oxfam 2023 Report, which says that 1 percent of the richest Indians own 40 percent of the wealth of the country, 10 percent of the richest own 72 percent of its wealth, and the poorest 50 per cent of the population (meaning 70 crore people) owns just three percent of the wealth of the country. It is this entire trajectory that has to be thrown out lock, stock and barrel, by a regime change and also a policy change,” Dhawale said.

In various states the participants have dovetailed their local and regional issues as well with the larger set of demands. For example in Punjab, the farmers have criticised Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for misleading the people against the farmers' movement and have warned that the Aam Aadmi Party (AP) government should be ready to bear the political consequences.

They have demanded compensation for the crops destroyed by floods and hailstorms. They have also sought a hike in the procurement price of sugarcane.

Farmers from Punjab and Haryana are camping on the periphery of the joint capital of Chandigarh which is also a Union Territory. They have come with their tractor trolleys carrying the paraphernalia required for their stay and meals. The protestors will submit a charter of 21 demands to the respective governors of different states across the country on Tuesday.