Skip to main content

Govt of India 'failing' to realise: Farmers' protests have spread to all parts of country

By Prem Verma* 

Farmers had a very successful tractor rally on January 26 in Delhi. The attempt to malign their non-violent effort through the Red Fort violent incident is a standard tactic the Government uses through their supporters masquerading as farmers. What the government fails to realize that the farmers’ protest has now spread to all parts of the country and more and more people are supporting the farmers.
The absurdity of FIR against non-violent Medha Patekar and Yogendra Yadav for inciting violence speaks for itself. The Government must realize that a large majority of people have rejected the farm laws and Government must accept the inevitable and forego their ego. How can we displease the bread-givers who toil day and night to keep us fed and healthy. Their protest is fully justified and all of us support them in this endeavour. In the end they will win and the sooner Government scraps those Corporate favouring laws the better.
Farmers in the country are agitating against the three farm laws passed by the Government without any consultation with the stakeholders and the opposition political parties. The Government claims that it is good for the farming community whereas the farmers think otherwise. There is a stalemate and the Modi Government is adamant that the three laws will be implemented come what may. In this situation temperature is rising to the detriment of the nation. Let us think coolly about the situation.
To quote from the Swaminathan Report on Agriculture of 2006:
“To those who are hungry, God is Bread – Mahatma Gandhi, 1946... Everything else can wait, but not agriculture – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947... A majority of the hungry live in rural India and also depend on agriculture for their livelihood.”
Our own survival depends on what the farmers grow. They are our important lifeline. If they survive we will survive. Hence their well-being should be our prime concern. To the contrary over three lakh farmers have committed suicide over past years and we do not seem to be worried. They have committed suicides because they have been unable to pay back the loans taken for their farming and this is because the price obtained for their produce has not been able to give them the profits envisaged.
An industrial goods manufacturer calculates the cost of manufacturing, adds overhead costs and then puts a price on the goods after adding the amount of profit he desires to make. Thus he is ensured of the profit amount and the loan repayment if any.
In the case of the farmer a lot has been said and discussed about the MSP or the Minimum Support Price. MSP has to be the price based on cost of farming plus 50%. Once the correct MSP has been determined for the crop it is the Government’s duty to buy the crops at the agreed MSP rates to keep the farmers alive.
The farmers’ agitation has awakened the population about the problems farmers face and of which the city dwellers are unaware of
The farmers’ agitation has focused on two points, namely scrapping the farm laws and fixing the MSP of the crops. There is great fear among the farmers that once the laws are operational they will be at the mercy of the corporates and India will gradually shift to corporate farming. Also doing away with MSP will endanger the farming community against the financial might of the corporates. farming community and the farmers will at the end have to give up farming.
As Kavya Datla writes in “Down to Earth” in an article entitled: ‘Farm Laws 2020: Who are they meant to serve’:
“It is also difficult to ensure that the big corporates do not enslave the already marginalised farmers. By allowing both verbal and written contracts, the Centre places the farmers at the vulnerable end of the bargain with no redress.
“It is highly likely that big corporates bury the farmers in an avalanche of legal resources. There is no denying that there is a widely disproportionate access to legal resources between farmers and corporates and there seems to be no real law in place to safeguard the interests of the farmers.
“Both farmers and consumers run the risk of exploitation by placing the market in the hands of big businesses.
“To build trust among farmers and the states would be to include a mandate for MSP, as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee, within the ambit of the bills. Another would be to plug the holes in the current system instead of trying to dismantle and introduce a new structure.”

The farmers’ agitation has awakened the population about the problems farmers face and of which the city dwellers are unaware of. Supporting the farmers is like supporting our food giver. Lakhs of farmers committing suicide has not made news headlines and over 130 farmers dying in the current Protest has not made the news item either.
Thanks to the various social organizations and NGOs and awakened public these facts are now being circulated although the government pretend to be deaf to the reality. All of us must unite and force this Government to cancel the draconian farm laws hurriedly enacted. Jai Kisan. Long Live our Farmers and their families.
---
*Convener, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.