Thousands of farmers march across India, demand 'comprehensive' loan waiver

By Harsh Thakor*
Responding to the the call of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), thousands of farmers, supported by workers, students, youth, women and ordinary people, have staged foot-marches and rallies all over the country to register their protest against the “anti-farmer” BJP-led Union government. Protest gatherings engulfed 25 state capitals, more than 300 district headquarters and numerous tehsil headquarters.
Rallies were staged in cities of Chandigarh, Lucknow, Patna,Kolkata, Trivandrum, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Jaipur, comprising a total of around five lakh persons. In all, 3,000 protests led by 33 organisations forming SKM were held all over India.
More than five million people poured out on the streets to join the ‘Raj Bhawan Chalo’ or ‘March to Raj Bhawan’ call of SKM, sending memorandum of demand of farmers to the President of India through state governors, seeking her intervene to stop the anti-farmer activity of the ruling party at the Centre.
It was on 26 November in 2020 that the SKM had launched the historic Delhi Chalo movement, which marked the world’s longest and largest farmers’ movement, and crystallised a historic triumph of farmers from the depths of adversity against the corporate-political nexus to displace farmers from their land and livelihood.
The three farm laws, which sparked the historic farmers’ rebellion, were meant to liberalise India’s agriculture markets on behalf of the World Trade Organisaation (WTO) and open it to big national and international corporations. Farmers and farmers’ unions had interpreted these laws as an attack on their livelihoods and identity.
Thousands of farmers had marched from their villages on tractors and trolleys, and camped on highways at the borders leading to Delhi. Amidst a raging Covid-19 pandemic, farmers heroically sustained their struggle demanding repeal of the three laws along with the legal guarantee of MSP for all crops, and compelled the Union government retreat. On 19 November 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew the three farm laws.
The memorandum submitted addressed to the President by the farmers following the march to the Raj Bhawans said:
“On the occasion of the Constitution Day, farmers across India, through the Governors of their respective states, are reminding you of the promises made by the Union Government to the farmers. As you will be aware, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, in a letter to the Union Government dated 21 November 2021, had drawn the attention of the Government towards its six pending demands.
“In response to this, on 9 December 2021, Mr Sanjay Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, wrote a letter (Secretary/ AFW/ 2021/ Miss/1) to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. In this letter, he gave assurance on behalf of the Government on many issues, and urged the withdrawal of the movement. Relying on this letter of the Government, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha decided to lift the Morchas on the border of Delhi and all the protest demonstrations on 11 December 2021. Over eleven months later, the Union government has not fulfilled the promises made to the farmers.”
The “March to Raj Bhawans” marked the beginning of the next phase of the farmers’ protest till all the demands, including “Karz Mukti - Poora Daam” “Freedom from Indebtedness and Full Remunerative Price”, are fulfilled by the government. The farmers’ demands include

Legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) at C2+50% for all produce for all farmers.
Freedom from indebtedness through a comprehensive loan waiver scheme.
Withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022.
Dismissal and legal action against Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, who is accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre of farmers and a journalist.
Comprehensive and effective crop insurance scheme to speedily compensate farmers for crop loss due to natural calamities.
Farmers' pension of Rs 5,000 per month to all marginal, small and medium scale farmers and agricultural workers.
Withdrawal of all false cases registered against farmers during the farmers’ movement.
Payment of compensation to families of all farmers who were martyred during Farmers’ Movement, along with the major local demands of the respective states.

---
*Freelance journalist who has covered mass movements around India

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.

Counterview

Search This Blog