Prominent farm leaders, who led the farmers’ protest back in 2020-21, have distanced themselves from the stir this year. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), formed out of the previous Samyukta Kisan Morcha, has been protesting for the past three days in Punjab and Haryana, attempting to ignite the spark of the Farmers’ Protest 2.0.
The farmers’ organisations also called for a ‘Delhi Chalo’ march.
As compared to the previous stir, the following names are missing from the ‘Delhi Chalo’ call of SKM this year –
- Yogender Yadav
- Joginder Singh Ugrahan
- Rakesh Tikait
- Gurnam Singh Chaduni
- Balbir Singh Rajewal
- Manjit Rai
- Dr Darshan Pal
- Shiv Kumar Kakka
- Dr VM Singh
[Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) was initially formed in November 2020, and was a coalition of over forty Indian farmers’ unions to coordinate satyagraha (non-violent resistance) against the three farm acts – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, introduced by the government in September of the same year. The laws were later withdrawn.]
FARMER-GOVERNMENT TALKS
Amid the ongoing protests, there have been two unsuccessful attempts at dialogue between farmers and the government.
Even though the government expressed its willingness to negotiate with farmer organisations, both rounds of discussions have remained inconclusive.
The next round of talks will now take place on Sunday (February 18).
WHAT DO THE FARMERS DEMAND
The current demands through the ongoing farmers’ protest include ensuring a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, loan waivers, withdrawal of cases against the farmers, and making amendments to the Essential Commodities Act.
However, farmer leaders have also put forth various other demands, such as cancelling the WTO agreement related to the farmers, repealing the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, keeping farmers exempted from pollution laws, and opposing the installation of electronic meters for electricity.
The farmer organisations have presented the following demands to the government:
- Enacting a law guaranteeing MSP and providing MSP facilities for all crops
- Waiving off the debts of farmers and agricultural laborers and providing them with a monthly pension of 10,000 rupees
- Repealing the Land Acquisition Act of 2013
- Ensuring employment under MGNREGA for 200 days annually
- Providing compensation and government jobs for the families of farmers killed during the protest
- Increasing daily wages to Rs 700
- Ensuring punishment for those responsible in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident
- Enacting strict laws against companies producing fake pesticides and fertilisers
- Revoking the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 and eliminating the mandatory installation of electronic meters for Punjab farmers
- Forming a National Commission for spices
- Keeping farmers exempt from pollution laws
- Fixing crop prices according to the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report
- Imposing a ban on free trade agreements
Reports suggest nearly 200 farmer organisations are participating in the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. However, it was joined by even small-scale farmer organisations from Punjab.
Notably, there are around 40 farmer organizations in Punjab alone, while in 2020-21, the count of participating farmer organisations was around 500.