Priti David

Editor

Namita Waikar

Ritayan Mukherjee

Photographs

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‘Who
knew, Emergency will return in a new garb

Autocracy
these days will be renamed democracy’

In these times, when dissent is
suppressed and dissenters are silenced or locked up or both, these lines of a
protest song once again rang true as farmers and farm workers – the kisan and the mazdoor – walked into the grounds of the Ramlila Maidan, with red,
and green and yellow flags raised high. 

Agriculturists across groups – AIKS
(All India Kisan Sabha), BKU (Bharatiya Kisan Union), AIKKMS (All India Kisan
Khet Mazdoor Sangathan) and other organisations – gathered at the historic
grounds to participate in the Kisan Mazdoor Maha Panchayat, held on March 14,
2024 under the unifying platform of SKM (Samyukta Kisan Morcha).

“After the three farm laws were
repealed, the government made some promises, but these are still unfulfilled.
Now they must fulfil those promises. Varna
hum ladenge, aur ladte rahenge [If they don’t, we will fight and continue
to fight],” Premamati, a woman farmer from Kalaan village told PARI. She was
referring to the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/the-farmers-empowerment-and-protection-agreement-on-price-assurance-and-farm-services-act-2020/">Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price
Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 </a>, the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/the-farmers-produce-trade-and-commerce-promotion-and-facilitation-act-2020/">Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation) Act, 2020 </a>and the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/the-essential-commodities-amendment-act-2020/">Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020</a>.

“We were [also] here for the protest
three years ago,” she added. Premamati was one of the three women farmers from
Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district who had arrived for the Mahapanchayat.
They were aligned with the farmers’ group, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). “This
government is thriving, but they have ruined the farmers,” she said with anger.


All the women PARI spoke to were small farmers,
working on 4-5 acres of land. Women farmers and labourers do over 65 per cent
of agricultural work in India, but a mere<a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1780263"> 12 per cent</a> of women farmers have land in their name.

The Kisan Mazdoor Commission (KMC),
an initiative of the Nation For Farmers movement, recognises the injustices to
women. In a press conference held at New Delhi on March 19, 2024, they released
the KMC Agenda 2024 that said: “Recognize women as farmers and grant them land
rights, secure their tenancy rights over leased lands.” It went on to say,
“Provide childcare and crèche facilities in agricultural workspaces.”

Women farmers are ignored in state
schemes like the <a href="https://pmkisan.gov.in/">PM Kisan Samman Nidhi</a> that give a yearly income of Rs. 6,000 to farmers, but this
is earmarked only for owners of agricultural land. Tenant farmers also lose out
in this scheme. 

In her address to the joint session
of Parliament at the start of the Budget session on January 31, 2024, President
Droupadi Murmu said that the government had so far transferred Rs. 2.25 lakh
crore (Rs. 2,250 billion) under the PM Kisan scheme of which Rs. 54,000 crore
(Rs. 540 billion) went to women beneficiaries. 

That roughly translates to one rupee
to women farmers for every three rupees that went to the men. But given that a
very large proportion of women in rural India work on farms – <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.niti.gov.in/rural-women-key-new-indias-agrarian-revolution&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1711377869273194&amp;usg=AOvVaw1MHErX_uV6jmyGz2tpzs_g">80 per cent</a> are self-employed as unpaid family labour – the gender
injustice is even more galling. 

Medha Patkar, the only woman leader to speak
from the podium reiterated the slogan, oft heard during the earlier protests: “Nari ke sahiyog bina har sangharsh adhura
hai [without women’s participation, every struggle is incomplete].”

Her words were welcomed by the many
women protestors who were fighting for their rights as women and farmers. They
were present in large numbers at the Mahapanchayat, making up a third of the
gathering. “We have a fight with the Modi government. They have not kept their
promises,” says Chindarbala, a woman farmer from Kapial village in Punjab’s
Sangrur district. 

“We all have small farms of three or four killa [acre]. Electricity is expensive.
They have not withdrawn the [electricity amendment] bill as promised.” she
added. In the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/protests-against-farm-laws-full-coverage/">protests</a> at Delhi’s borders in 2020-21, women stood
shoulder to shoulder with men to assert their rights and dignity as farmers and
workers.

The Mahapanchayat started at 11 a.m.
and in no time the grounds were filled with farmers and workers from across
many states.

Among the many men farmers from
Punjab, Sardar Baljinder Singh of Bhatinda district told PARI, “we have come
here to ask for our rights as farmers. We are here to fight not only for
ourselves, but for our children and future generations.”

Activist Medha Patkar speaking from
the podium said, “I salute everyone here, whose livelihoods depend on nature –
farmers, fisher folk, animal herders, pastoralists, forest gatherers, farm
workers, Adivasis and Dalits. We all need to save our jal, jungle aur zameen [water, forests and land].” 

Over 25 leaders of farmer organisations that
form the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), occupied the two rows of chairs on the
stage. Most of these leaders were men, with only three women seated prominently
at the centre of the first row. They were Harinder Bindu of BKU Ugrahan,
Punjab; Aradhana Bhargava of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) from Madhya
Pradesh; and from Maharashtra, Medha Patkar of the National Alliance of
People’s Movement (NAPM).

The speakers reiterated the major
demands of the SKM, foremost among them, a legalised guarantee for MSP (minimum
support price) at C2 + 50 per cent for all crops with guaranteed procurement.
C2 denotes the cost of production including rental value of owned land used,
rent for leased in land and cost of family labour.

At present, the MSP for 23 crops
before the sowing seasons does not consider the land rent nor does it include
the additional 50 per cent, as recommended by Prof. M S. Swaminathan in the
National Commission for Farmers <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/rooms/agriculture/national-commission-on-farmers/">report</a> that states: “The Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be at
least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production. The “net
take home income” of farmers should be comparable to those of civil servants.”

Patkar also talked about the
corporate takeover of seed production, the control of agriculture in African
countries by large companies, and the manifold increase in incomes of the rich
even during the pandemic. While the demand of farmers for fair remuneration for
all crops including vegetables was not fulfilled by the government which
claimed it would be a financial burden. “A small two per cent tax on the wealth
of the ultra-rich would easily cover MSP for all crops,” she said.

A comprehensive loan waiver for all
farmers has been a longstanding demand that was promised by the union
government in their agreement with SKM on December 9, 2021, after they repealed
the three farm laws. But it has not happened.

Debt is crippling farmers as can be seen from
the increasing numbers of farmer suicides. Between 2014 and 2022, over 100,000
farmers took their own lives, crushed by the burden of rising debt. They were
pushed by government policies that led to withdrawal of subsidies, denial of
remunerative income, and an ill-conceived and badly executed crop insurance
process under the PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana). Loan waivers could
have been a boon but this too was not given by the government.

Speaking at the Mahapanchayat, Vijoo
Krishnan, General Secretary of AIKS (All India Kisan Sabha) said, “in the last
ten years, more than 4.2 lakh farmers, agricultural workers and daily wage
workers have committed suicide, indicating the acute agrarian crisis in the
country.”

In 2022, the National Crime Record
Bureau’s (NCRB) Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2022 report
records a total of over 1.7 lakh suicides – of which 33 per cent (56,405)
suicides were of daily wage earners, agricultural labourers, and farmers.

Compare that to the prosperity of
private insurance companies that earned Rs. 24,350 crores (2016 to 2021). They
were the 10 companies (among the 13 chosen) that bagged the crop insurance
business from the government. In another bonanza, big corporate houses received
loan waivers of Rs. 14.56 lakh crore (2015 to 2023).

For the financial year 2024-25
budget, the government has allocated Rs. 1,17,528.79 crore for agriculture. Of
this amount, 83 per cent is allocated for individual beneficiary-based schemes
of income support. A classic example is the Rs. 6,000 annually given to landed
farmer households under the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Tenant cultivators
constituting close to 40 per cent of all farmers do not and will not receive
income support. The landless agricultural labourers, and women farmers who work
on farms but do not have the land in their name, will also be deprived of these
benefits. 

Other funds available to rural
families of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers through
MNREGA have been cut – the share of the budget allocated to it has fallen from
1.92 per cent in 2023-24 to 1.8 per cent in 2024-25. 

All these issues and demands of farmer unions
rang out from the podium at the Ramlila Maidan on March 14, 2024.

The grounds are the annual stage for
theatrical performances of the epic Ramayana. Every year, artists enact scenes
during the Navratri festival, culminating in the triumph of good over evil and
of truth over falsehood. But that is not a good enough reason to call it
‘historic’. Then what is?

It was here that ordinary Indians
heard Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel speak
during India’s freedom struggle. In 1965, India’s second Prime Minister, Lal
Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan Jai
Jawan, Jai Kisan from these grounds. In 1975, Jayaprakash Narayan’s mammoth
rally opposing Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian regime was held here; the
government fell soon after in the 1977 general election. The protests of the
India Against Corruption movement in 2011 started from this Maidan. Arvind
Kejriwal, the present Chief Minister of Delhi, emerged as a leader out of this
movement. At the time of this story being published, he had been arrested by
the Enforcement Directorate on alleged corruption charges, just weeks before
the 2024 general elections. 

It was on November 30, 2018, from
this very Ramlila Maidan that farmers and workers from all over the country
came to Delhi for the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/the-kisan-mukti-march-in-delhi-full-coverage/">Kisan Mukti
Morcha,</a> marched to the Parliament Street and asked the BJP government to fulfil the demands that they had
promised in their 2014 election manifesto. In 2018, the government made another
promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. That too remains unfulfilled.

At this historic Ramlila Maidan, the
Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat of farmers and agricultural workers under the
Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) resolved to continue the struggle for their
demands, and to protest against the blatant refusal of the current BJP regime
at the centre to fulfil the very promises that they made to the SKM on December
9, 2021.

In the words of Premamati, “we will return to
Delhi with our bags and bedding. Dharna
pe baith jayenge. Hum vapas nahi jayenge jab tak mange poori na ho [We will
sit in protest. We just won’t go away until our demands are fulfilled].”

Farmers in the capital: demands unfulfilled

مہا پنچایت میں حکومت کو کسانوں کا الٹی میٹم

రాజధానిలో రైతులు: నెరవేరని డిమాండ్లు

தலைநகரில் விவசாயிகள்: நிறைவேறாத கோரிக்கைகள்

ਅਧਵਾਟੇ ਲਮਕੀਆਂ ਮੰਗਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਦਿੱਲੀ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ ਕਿਸਾਨ ਤੇ ਮਜ਼ਦੂਰ

ଅପୂରଣୀୟ ଦାବିକୁ ନେଇ ରାଜଧାନୀରେ ଚାଷୀଙ୍କ ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ

आश्वासनांच्या पूर्ततेसाठी शेतकरी पुन्हा राजधानीत

തലസ്ഥാനത്തെ കർഷകർ: പൂർത്തീകരിക്കപ്പെടാത്ത ആവശ്യങ്ങൾ

ರಾಜಧಾನಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ರೈತರು: ಈಡೇರದ ಭರವಸೆಗಳು

રાજધાનીમાં ખેડૂતોની માંગણીઓ અધૂરી

बोरिया बिस्तर धरके दिल्ली लहुंट आबो

‘जोर जुलुम के टक्कर में, संघर्ष हमार नारा बा’

প্রতিশ্রুতির নামে সরকারি ফাঁকাবুলির প্রতিবাদে দরবার চাষিদের

দাবী পুৰণ হ’ব কেতিয়া? দিল্লীত সমবেত হাজাৰ হাজাৰ কৃষক

‘हम बोरिया-बिस्तर लेकर दिल्ली वापस लौटेंगे’

Delhi

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Farmers in the capital: demands unfulfilled

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