Pushing the tempo at Mumbai's farm sit-in
At Mumbai's Azad Maidan, at a farmers' protest in late January, dhumsi and tarpa players from Adivasi communities in Maharashtra's Dahanu taluka opposed the new farm laws through song and dance
February 24, 2021 | Oorna Raut and Riya Behl
‘If we don't stand by them, then who will?’
Despite a loss of income since the protests began, many small traders, shopkeepers, workers and vendors at and around Singhu on the Haryana-Delhi border stand in resolute solidarity with the farmers
February 23, 2021 | Anustup Roy
Petwar women: keeping the farm protests alive
Sonia Petwar, Shanti Devi and other women in Haryana’s Petwar village have been supporting the farmers' agitation in their own way – by sending rations to Tikri and even attending the protests
February 17, 2021 | Sanskriti Talwar
Jambhali farmer: Broken arm, unbroken spirit
Narayan Gaikwad was at Azad Maidan in January with a fractured arm, speaking to farmers and protesting against the new farm laws. The farmer from Kolhapur has attended many rallies on farm issues across India
February 12, 2021 | Sanket Jain
'Without a saat baara, we can’t do anything'
Arunabai and Shashikala – both widows from Adivasi communities, and farmers and farm labourers in Aurangabad district – came to Mumbai to protest against the new farm laws and demand their land titles
February 8, 2021 | Riya Behl
‘Will the corporate-wale feed us for free?’
A shortage of PDS rations, hoarding, rising food prices – Maharashtra's farmers, who were at the protest at Mumbai's Azad Maidan, are worried about these and other possible long-term effects of the farm laws
February. 8, 2021 | Jyoti Shinoli
In Sarkhani, a long fight armed with saat baara
Adivasi farmers Anusaya Kumare and Sarajabai Ade have been protesting since January for their land rights in Maharashtra's Sarkhani village; they joined the Mumbai sit-in to oppose the three new farm laws
February 8, 2021 | Shraddha Agarwal
Rich farmers, global plots, local stupidity
With attempts to disperse the protesting farmers at Delhi’s gates failing, theories abound of international conspiracies that justify local repression. Will these acquire extra-terrestrial dimensions next?
February 6, 2021 | P. Sainath
In Bengaluru: ‘We don't want corporate mandis’
Farmers from north Karnataka arrived by trains and buses in Bengaluru on Republic Day, to support the Delhi tractor parade and reiterate their resistance to corporate-centred farm policies
February 03, 2021 | Gokul G. K. and Arkatapa Basu
'They sell our wheat to us at thrice the price'
Women farmers and farm workers who have been fighting for their land rights, were protesting in Mumbai against the new farm laws so they don't lose out more from the sale of farm produce below the MSP
February 1, 2021 | Sanket Jain
Delhi’s Republic Day theatre of the optics
On January 26, the capital and surrounding areas witnessed both: a huge citizens’ celebratory parade and a tragic, vicious charade. Rumours played a role in the chaos around Red Fort and the ITO junction
January 29 | Shalini Singh
In Bengal, reclaiming the land beneath her feet
On January 18, Mahila Kisan Diwas, women farmers and farm labourers from the villages of West Bengal came to Kolkata to protest against the new farm laws and to voice several other concerns
January 28, 2021 | Smita Khator
Jijabai: Seeking independence on Republic Day
To help 10-year-old Nutan learn about Adivasi farmers' concerns at a young age, her grandmother Jijabai brought her along on the march from Nashik to Mumbai, protesting against the new farm laws
January 28, 2021 | Parth M.N. and Riya Behl
Tractor rally: On the road despite disruption
The vandalism of a small group that was never part of the 32 unions leading the protests on Delhi’s borders drew focus away from an unprecedented, peaceful and disciplined citizen’s Republic Day parade
January 28, 2021 | Anustup Roy
‘A day will come when there will be no farmer’
The new farms laws impact farmers all over India, say farmers from across Karnataka. Many of them joined the tractor rally in Bengaluru on Republic Day to support the farmers' parade in Delhi
January 27, 2021 | Tamanna Naseer
Tractor rally split: ‘Those were not our people’
The convoy of farmers' tractors from Tikri was moving peacefully when a small group broke away, creating chaos at Nangloi chowk and disrupting an unprecedented and disciplined citizen’s Republic Day parade
January 27, 2021 | Sanskriti Talwar
Mumbai farm sit-in: 'Take back the dark laws'
Tens of thousands of farmers from all over Maharashtra were at Azad Maidan this week in a sit-in organised by the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha, to support the Delhi protests against the three new farm laws
January 27, 2021 | Riya Behl
‘We still don’t own the land we cultivate’
Despite land rights being the main concern for Bhima Tandale, Suman Bombale and Lakshmi Gaikwad – Adivasi farm widows from Nashik – they are in Mumbai to support the protest against the new farm laws
January 26, 2021 | Parth M.N.
Ready to move: with tractors and the tricolour
Farmers at and around the Delhi protest sites have been readying their tractors with paint, garlands and balloons for the unprecedented Republic Day parade
January 26, 2021 | Shivangi Saxena
‘We have marched before, we will march again’
Farm workers like Vijaybai Gangorde and Tarabai Jadhav, from Nashik district, borrowed money to join the thousands of farmers coming to Mumbai to express solidarity with the Republic Day protest rallies in Delhi
January 26, 2021 | Shraddha Agarwal
On Republic Day, breaking the cycle
Ramesh Kumar cycled from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur to the farmers’ protest site in Singhu to participate in the Republic Day farmers’ parade on January 26
January 26, 2021 | Anustup Roy
These are the times that try people's soles
Unmindful of the dust, dirt and occasional rain, Jaswinder Singh Saini and Prakash Kaur, a couple from Delhi, perform sewa at Singhu – cleaning the dirty, muddied shoes of the farmers
January 25, 2021 | Amir Malik
‘It's a line-up of tractors for 50 km in Tikri’
Tens of thousands off tractors are lining up at the Tikri border in time for the tractor rally on January 26. Women farmers will be leading, and all the details are being carefully worked out
January 25, 2021 | Shivangi Saxena
‘I feel like I am flying when driving a tractor’
Sarbjeet Kaur drove her tractor for more than 400 kilometres from her village in Punjab to the Singhu farmers’ protest site, and is now ready to participate in the tractor rally on January 26
January 25, 2021 | Snigdha Sony
‘I will be driving my tractor to Delhi’
Cheeku Dhanda, a young farmer in Haryana’s Kandrauli village, has driven to Singhu five times to participate in the farm protests. He is going again, this time to join the tractor rally on January 26
January 25, 2021 | Gagandeep
‘You have awakened the entire nation’
A highly distinguished former Naval Chief, who has himself been practising farming for a long time, expresses solidarity with the farmers in Delhi and across the country protesting against the farm laws
January 24, 2021 | Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas
Setting the stage for a farm rally in Mumbai
In Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, UP migrant Ram Mohan is among the labourers – many in their families back home are farmers – pitching tents for the thousands coming from Nashik to protest against the farm laws
January 24, 2021 | Riya Behl
The many-splendoured sewa network at Singhu
From a 'turban langar' to tailors, trucks fitted with charging ports and mirrors, free laundry, massages, shoe-repairs – a very wide range of non-farmers are at Singhu too, offering solidarity through such services
January 23, 2021 | Joydip Mitra
Punjab farm labourers: ‘We are seen as insects’
At the Tikri protest site in west Delhi, 70-year-old Taravanti Kaur is one of the many Dalit farm labourers from Punjab who believe that the centre's new laws will push them further into poverty
January 21, 2021 | Sanskriti Talwar
Lohri this year – the bonfire of our inanities
On January 13, protesting farmers at the Singhu border celebrated the Lohri festival, popular in Punjab and other parts of north India, by torching the three unpopular farm laws
January 20, 2021 | Anustup Roy
Women at farm stir: 'We are recreating history'
Women are central to agriculture in India, and many – farmers as well as non-farmers, young and old, across class and caste lines – are present and resolute at the farmers' protest sites around Delhi
January 16, 2021 | Shraddha Agarwal
'This struggle is of farm labourers as well'
Resham and Beant Kaur, who are among the protestors at Delhi's borders, emphasise that the farm laws will impact the livelihoods and food security of innumerable households of farm labourers, like their own family
January 16, 2021 | Sanskriti Talwar
From Punjab to Singhu: painting a protest
An art teacher from Ludhiana has painted a huge canvas at Singhu as his contribution to the farmers’ protest
January 14, 2021 | Anustup Roy
'Farm laws affects both rich and poor farmers'
At Shahjahanpur, solidarity cuts across agrarian class lines, and Maharashtra's Adivasi farmers – many with small tracts of land – were moved by the abundance and generosity of their northern counterparts
January. 14, 2021 | Parth M.N.
Rotating for a farmers’ revolution at Singhu
With their protest on for weeks, farmers on the Haryana-Delhi border can’t neglect their crops and land, so they have devised a relay – while some return briefly to their villages, others take their place at Singhu
January 10, 2021 | Parth M.N.
'I really want to go to Delhi'
Farmers like Mathura Barde and Narayan Gaikwad from Maharashtra left their fields and gave up their wages to travel five days and express solidarity with their northern counterparts in Shahjahanpur
January 9, 2021 | Parth M.N.
‘People told me that I was bleeding heavily…’
The day he arrived at Singhu from his village in Punjab, on November 27, 70-year-old Sardar Santokh Singh was hit by a tear gas shell – despite the injury, he remains steadfast at the protest site
January 9, 2021 | Kanika Gupta
Kabal Singh farmer and the chains that bind
A farmer at the Delhi-Haryana border in Singhu explains why he is against the farm laws – and why he is walking around the protest site in shackles weighing five kilos
January 8, 2021 | Amir Malik
‘Farming is our religion, we love to feed people’
Punjab's Gurudeep Singh and Rajasthan's Bilawal Singh run langars at the Shahjahanpur protest site, and say this government is used to dealing with hungry protestors so they are ensuring everyone here is well-fed
January 2, 2021 | Parth M.N.
‘I sing to raise awareness on farmers’ issues’
Savita Gunjal, a 16-year-old Bhil Adivasi farm labourer and singer-composer from Nashik district, kept everyone’s spirits and resolve high on the jatha to Delhi by Maharashtra farmers with her wonderful songs
December 31, 2020 | Shraddha Agarwal
Harfateh Singh peels peas at farmers’ protests
One of the youngest protestors at the Rajasthan-Haryana border pitches in to help his family prepare aloo mutter for a hundred people
December 31, 2020 | Shraddha Agarwal
War heroes in new battles for farmers
Among the lakhs of peasant protestors at the gates of Delhi is a handful of truly unique men – armed forces veterans who have between them won over 50 medals in different wars they have fought for India
December 29, 2020 | Amir Malik
‘We will play and dance our way to Delhi’
Around 1,000 farmers from various districts of Maharashtra, many of them Adivasis, are trying to join the protestors in Delhi – in vans, tempos, jeeps and cars. It is a colourful and determined caravan
December 24, 2020 | Shraddha Agarwal
Mangal and Mirabai: sisters in farmers' struggle
Mangal Ghadge and Mirabai Lange of Nashik district have forged a friendship while participating in farmers' protests over the years – and they were also together at the vehicle march this week from Nashik to Delhi
December 24, 2020 | Parth M.N.
The Bella Ciao of the farmers at Delhi’s gates
The protest by farmers and their many supporters at Delhi’s gates this past month is giving rise to some incredible poetry and songs. This though is surely one of the very best protest songs in years
December 23, 2020 | Poojan Sahil and Karwan e Mohabbat Media Team
Supporting farmers: ‘You don’t think twice’
Despite a bad leg, fisherman Prakash Bhagat is cooking for the people from his village, Pargaon, at the ongoing vehicle morcha from Nashik to Delhi to support those protesting against the farm bills
December 23, 2020 | Parth M.N. and Shraddha Agarwal
‘Women farmers don’t want the new laws’
Women are central to agriculture in India, but are rarely recognised as farmers – many of them came together in Pune last week supporting the call to scrap the new farm laws and voiced other demands
December 18, 2020 | Vidya Kulkarni
‘This winter, our hearts are burning embers’
At the farmers' protest sites in Singhu and Burari, at the end of each day, protestors staying in makeshift camps prepare for the long night and fight ahead in a spirit of camaraderie and renewed resolve
December 15, 2020 | Shadab Farooq
‘I come here for the food’
The farmers’ protest at Singhu has drawn many families living on nearby pavements and in slum colonies, who mainly come for the langar – free meals – and these community kitchens welcome everyone
December 14, 2020 | Kanika Gupta
Farmer Harjeet Singh can’t walk but stands tall
Many of the farmers at the Delhi-Haryana border in Singhu have come from hundreds of kilometres away, braving great difficulties. Among them is Harjeet Singh, who travelled with a broken hip and an injured spine
December 12, 2020 | Amir Malik
And you thought it’s only about farmers?
The new farm laws disable the right to legal recourse of all citizens, not just farmers – to an extent unseen since the 1975-77 Emergency. The farmers at Delhi’s gates are fighting for the rights of us all
December 10, 2020 | P. Sainath
'The law related to APMCs is a death warrant'
At the Delhi-Haryana protests, the farmers' demands include a repeal of the three new farm laws – and they are determined to confront barbed wire, barricades, their own losses, humiliation and more to be heard
November 30, 2020 | Amir Malik
Palghar protests: 'We won't back down today'
On November 26, farmers from Adivasi communities gathered for a rasta roka in Maharashtra's Palghar district, in solidarity with the ongoing protests in Haryana-Delhi, and with their own 21-demand charter
November 28, 2020 | Shraddha Agarwal
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Reports and laws in the PARI Library relevant to the farmers' protests
Findings from Rapid Assessment of Basic Amenities at Protest Sites
This report contains the findings of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan’s Delhi and Haryana chapters on the sanitation, water supply, solid waste management and health facilities at five farm protest sites
January 11, 2021 | Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Delhi and Haryana
State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020: Rethinking Productivity and Populism through Alternative Approaches
This report aims to provide a critical overview of the state of agriculture in India. It discusses current government policies and their implications on rural India’s residents, livelihoods and ecologies. It also presents alternative ideas and approaches to implement policies
November 30, 2020 | Network of Rural & Agrarian Studies
2020 Global Hunger Index: One Decade to Zero Hunger, Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems
India ranked 94 of a total of 107 countries in the 2020 Global Hunger Index. This 15th edition of the Index emphasises the link between health and sustainable food systems, as well as the second goal of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – ‘Zero Hunger’
October, 2020 | Concern Worldwide, Ireland, and Welthungerhilfe, Germany
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020
This Act provides for a national framework on farming agreements that ‘protects and empowers’ farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters and large retailers, for farm services and selling ‘…future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price framework in a fair and transparent manner’
September 27, 2020 | Ministry of Law and Justice
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
This Act provides for the creation of an ‘ecosystem’ where farmers and traders have ‘freedom of choice’ in the sale and purchase of produce ‘…which facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channels’. The Act aims to promote ‘efficient, transparent and barrier-free’ inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce of farmers’ produce outside the physical premises of markets notified under various state legislations, and to provide a ‘facilitative framework’ for electronic trading and ‘for matters connected therewith’
September 27, 2020 | Ministry of Law and Justice
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
This Amendment states that the supply of ‘foodstuffs’ – including cereals, pulses, potato, onions, edible oilseeds and oils – may only be regulated under ‘extraordinary circumstances’ such as war, famine, ‘extraordinary’ price rise and ‘natural calamity of grave nature’
September 14, 2020 | Ministry of Law and Justice
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2020: Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets
This report contains projections for 2030, if trends of the last decade continue – considering that the second goal of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is ‘Zero Hunger’. The report also predicts some of the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic on food security and nutrition
July 13, 2020 | FAO, UNICEF, WHO and IFAD
Unlocking the crisis: Understanding impacts of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown on single women farmers of Maharashtra
This report presents the results of a survey assessing the lockdown’s impact on single women engaged in cultivation and wage labour, their access to measures under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, and their challenges in the upcoming kharif season
June, 2020 | Mahila Kisaan Adhikaar Manch
The Essential Commodities Act, 1955
This Act aims to regulate the production, supply and distribution of, and trade and commerce in, certain commodities, in the interest of the general public
April 01, 1955 | Ministry of Law and Justice
