Agitating farmers at Singhu border say their massive protests have brought the NDA government down on its knees and first they will bring down Haryana government in a few weeks, and later the Union government if their demands are not met.
Haryana farmers are also angry that their electoral support had been taken for granted by dynast Dushyant Chautala and Khattar government. They feel betrayed by political class as well as the media for portraying the kisan movement as Khalistani movement.
The farmers say the government has sold itself to Ambani-Adanis. They are confident that the government will have to take back the laws as the protesters are ready for a long haul.
LokMarg visits Singhu Border where farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been holding sit-in protest against Central Agriculture Laws. The protestors are firm in their resolve to stay put till the time Modi government withdraws the ‘black laws’. These farmers are angry over what they call “false reassurances” on MSP and farmers mandis only after prolonged protests.
There is also anger and distrust over private participation in procurement of farm yield, which they say will harm both the producer and the consumer. Some even liken the current regime to British Raj in its nonchalance toward the care and condition of the farming community
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) leader, in an interaction with LokMarg, has denied news reports that several farmer unions have distanced themselves from Ugrahan faction after it raised human rights issues at their protest site. The farmer leader also refuted Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s claim that an agreement with farmers was in sight. “There is a deadlock,” Ugrahan says firmly. “The talks have reached a stalemate. I have no idea where is Tomar’s solution in sight.”
He also explained how human rights issues are in cohesion with a farmer’s rights, a writer’s right and a poor man’s right to protest.
Gauravdeep Singh, 24, founder of Initiators of Change, a Ludhiana-based NGO, is running medical service camps for protesting farmers at Singhu border with the help of his team and young volunteers
The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent his last years (1521-1539) as a farmer on the banks of River Ravi (now known as the Kartarpur corridor), and therefore Sikhs revere farming as a service to humanity. Farming is the foundation on which all other services are built, which is why I thought it was important for me to come out and help the farming community in these trying times.
So I came here along with my team members at Singhu border to provide basic medical support to the farmers. We are a group of nearly 200 volunteers, divided in about 20 teams spread across both the Singhu and Tikri borders. The volunteers are drawn largely from the NGO I run, Initiators of Change as well as the Gurmat Gian Missionary College which was started by my family. We also have dedicated pharmacists and paramedics working with us.
Young volunteers and pharmacists work in shifts at Singhu and Tikri border protest sites
We have been here from day one of the protests. I believe if we can take care of their physical wellbeing by way of medical support, they will gather more strength to nurture the soul of this country. Tending to the wounds of the farmers who had faced batons, water cannons, rough handling etc was one of the first tasks we had to take up at Delhi borders. We have carried on since.
We provide basic medicines like pain killers, antacids, throat lozenges, pain relief gels, warm bandages etc. In addition, we keep supplies of facemasks, hand sanitizers, sanitary pads with us to encourage hygiene among protesters.
My day starts at 6 am. We visit each trolley in a zone to distribute blankets. There is breakfast at 9 am and thence to the medical camps. Along with medicines we also provide daily-use items like toiletries, books etc. The teams work in shifts, so everyone, including me, gets sufficient rest. The entire supplies, so far, have been managed from our own pockets.
The medical camps provide basic medicines as well as daily-use items
Hum Sikhs kisi se nahi darte, hum sar ko hath pe rakhte hain, humein sirf sacchai pyari hai (A Sikh is not afraid of anything. We hold truth higher than life). The government perhaps underestimated the power of the common man. They removed Shaheen Bagh protesters in the name of coronavirus, but they have to answer the farmer now.
I find the demands of farmers completely valid, which is why I am giving my whole-hearted support to this protest. I was given the National Youth Award in 2017 for creating voting awareness among the youth of Punjab. I decided to return my award for the voters’ will was not given due respect by this government.
India is majorly an agrarian economy, so shouldn’t farmers be included in the policy making? Should they be conveniently ignored and side-lined as has been done by the Union government? A government is answerable to the public.
One cannot expect the corporates to behave on the basis of goodwill, for they operate on the basis of profitability. Ye jo langar system hai na jisne poori insaniyat ko sath bandh rakha hai, ke duniya me jahan bhi koi bhookha hoga, aur koi Gurudwara hoga, wahan khana zaroor milega, wo bhi khatm ho jayega agar ye farm bills pass ho gaye toh. (These farm laws are anti-thesis of our langar service, which binds humanity by feeding one and all). We can provide medicines to the body, but the government must step forward to heal the wounds that are festering in the hearts of farmers.
Singh (middle) with fellow members of Initiators Of Change
Farmer
Harpreet Singh Mattu, 50, from Mehakpur
in Jalandhar, Punjab, tells LokMarg
whey he set up a 24×7 langar, with assistance from his brother Balwinder Singh in
California, US, to feed protesters at Delhi-Singhu border
I feel these protests are a landmark moment
in our lives and it is our contribution towards the life of future generations,
so that can have an easier life than us. With the introduction of these three
farm bills, the government has shown us that there is no need to build
consensus before bringing in a new law.
Sahi
kahoon to inhone loktantra se lok hi khatm kar diya (The truth is that the BJP has taken away people’s will out of
democracy). If the farm bills are, as the government says, beneficial to the
farmers, then why didn’t they bring it to the table before; people would have
breathed easy.
Mattu (left) at the kitchen set up near Singhu border protest site
Apart from registering my voice at the
protests, I am also doing sewa of
other farmers by organising a langar.
My brother, Balwinder Singh, who
lives in California, US, called me before the protests started and said, “Let’s
do it for our brothers. Let’s start a langar
so that no one goes hungry in this biting cold during the protests.”
My brother is the pradhan at Gurudwara Sahib
Riverside, California, which had orgnaised largescale langar (food distribution) in their area during pandemic to people
who had been isolating. Since the idea originally took root in his mind, we
kept the logo of California Gurudwara at our langar sewa.
I believe human hearts are all the same
everywhere. The pandemic has shown us that we are all in this together and thus
we have to help each other in times of need. Providing langar to people is a sacred duty. Even during the pandemic the
Sikhs ensured that no one went hungry.
Mattu with his teammates at the protest site
Slowly more people have started joining us.
In the beginning I brought along three trucks (my own) full of food, utensils
etc. About a dozen halwais (cooks) and
four assistants accompanied us so that we could work in shifts and get ample
rest.
We can’t do sewa of some people at the cost of others. We take full precautions
for coronavirus and keep sanitising the kitchen. Cleanliness is a way of life
for the Sikhs, as you must have seen all Gurudwaras are spotlessly clean and no
one thinks cleaning is beyond them. A lot of people volunteer for us and we
have managed to feed thousands of people since December 2, when I first went to
Delhi.
Here, we make sure that the food is always
served hot and that there is variety too. I must really thank the farmers from
Haryana who give us fresh vegetables and milk for the langar. Also, people
behave in a disciplined manner and ensure that everything is disposed of
properly.
I wake up at 4 am to get things started. The first thing to go up on the fire is tea and we make nearly 13 huge containers of tea every day so that our farmer brothers can start their day with a warm cuppa. From 4 in the morning I work non-stop till 9 am. After that I take a small break and get back to work at 10:30 am, only work till 8 pm when I call it a day. Then I go to sleep. That is my routine here.
With his son early in the day at kitchen
I did take a day break to visit my hometown to attend the funeral of a fellow farmer’s father and also to check up on my own father who has not been keeping well. That was the only time I missed the sewa here. We have to manage both family and country and farmers are really good at multitasking.
I now wish to bring mobile washrooms to the protests site in Delhi. I have customised another truck of mine into mobile washrooms. It is important to take care of hygiene any way but more so in times of a pandemic. I hope the government also sees and understands what the farmers are trying to say and take away these bills in the interest of the nation.
Ram Swaroop Singh, founder member of the Consortium of Indian Farmers
Association, explains where the Centre erred on Farm Laws, and why farmers from
states other than Punjab-Haryana are not protesting
I must say that the Union government hasn’t done a good job either in drafting the three farm bills, which they claim are beneficial to farmers, or in communicating the provisions under these laws to the farming community. The government didn’t take farmers into confidence before pushing these laws, particularly in a democracy.
This year has been uncharacteristically
tough on everyone because of the raging pandemic and people are more worried
about their future than usual. It is in times like these that we need a
compassionate government even more. Mujhe
lagta hai ye government logon ya kisano ki parwah nahi karti (I believe the
current government has little concern for the poor or the hand that tills the
land).
The farmer grows more food than is required for his own family. Yet, over the decades, his income has remained stagnant. He is the least paid among all the sectors for his services. Surely, agriculture sector needs a complete overhaul, but in favour of the farmers, not in favour of corporates.
Several people have pointed that only
Punjab-Haryana farmers are protesting. True, the ongoing protests around Delhi-NCR
are predominantly by farmers from Punjab and Haryana, then say from states like
Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. But there are various reasons behind it.
First, the pattern of agriculture is different in separate states in India. UP farmers grow less crops (in quantity) even though the variety of crops may be more. Besides, it’s the time of reaping of crops grown in UP (like sugarcane), while the Punjab-Haryana farmers are already done with the harvesting and have some time on their hands before the next sowing season begins.
Second, the Centre has so far been
procuring wheat and paddy crops mainly from Punjab-Haryana for Public
Distribution Systems and thus a stable and consistent MSP in place benefits
them more than farmers from other states. Farmers from other states don’t have such
ready markets. Farmers in UP also have small land holdings in comparison to their
counterparts in Punjab or Haryana. In addition to this, farmers in UP are also
less aware of the happenings around them.
Yet another reason is that unlike in Punjab-Haryana
where the joint family system still persists, there is division of land in UP
into small parts which aren’t very beneficial, as very little grain crop can be
grown in that land area. The
Uttar Pradesh Imposition of Ceiling of Land Holding Act, 1960 doesn’t allow a person to hold more than 12.5 acres of agricultural
land. Thus farming remains a poor man’s vocation.
Our (Consortium of Indian Farmers) Association has been active for the past 10 years. We have been demanding that the MS Swaminathan Commission Report needs to be implemented as soon and as honestly as possible if we are to alleviate the rural distress.
Singh says the Centre should have taken farmers into confidence before bringing in agri laws
I have worked closely with farmers with guidance from my late father-in-law Chaudhary Chandrapal Singh, a farmer leader and minister in the state government. In my view, the government does not listen to the parties concerned. It is a statesman virtue to communicate well with the public. I wish the Centre could take a leaf out of Jagan Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, who attentively listens to all policy recommendations and takes decisions in a composed manner by taking the concerned into confidence.
Dr Sumit Kaur, a 24-year-old dentist from Jalandhar, Punjab, tells LokMarg why she took time off from her practice to lend her voice in favour of farmers at Singhu-Tikri border
You know why farmers are drawing increasing support from national and international groups? That’s because their fears and demands are valid. People across the social spectrum are lending support to this movement because it would completely change the way farmers have lived their lives so far. The very dialogue that the government is having now could have been held before when the Bill was being drafted.
Once farmers give in, we fear things will go from bad to worse. I am a dentist living and practising in Jalandhar (Punjab) and I took leave from work to register my voice at the protest site. I reached the Singhu Border on Delhi outskirts on the night of December 5 and protested with the Kirti Kisan Union at the site. If the protest ‘needs more teeth’ I will ensure that it happens with my voice.
We are a family of farmers and thus
consider this to be a landmark moment for us. Many people are not realising
what has been going on, but they will understand it when due to these laws, the
prices of food items shoot up. The new laws allow stocking of essential
commodities and that doesn’t bode well for the poorest of poor.
Does the government and those who question
farmers ever pause and think why people are putting their lives at risk and
choosing to protest the Bills even during the pandemic? It really must mean so
much to people that are choosing to come out on the streets.
A protester at Singhu border holds a placard that says farmer is the backbone of a nation
Few realise that the agriculture sector
will soon go the telecom way if the government implements these laws. Like (Reliance)
Jio, they will first give lucrative deals to the farmers and then when they
have a solid client base, the corporates will create a monopoly to impose their
will. In India the land holdings are anyway too small and large families depend
on small pieces of land. If the safety net of even the MSP is taken away, where
will the poor go? And at a time when most migrant labourers have returned home
in wake of the pandemic and there are no jobs in sight, what can an average
person do apart from farming?
I am glad so many people, including some world leaders, are supporting the farmers. They are in fact supporting the soul of India. I do feel saddened by people who are trying to tar this movement with separatism. There wasn’t a single anti-national or separatist slogan chanted during the protests and I was a witness to it. Then we have Bollywood celebrities like Kangana Ranaut who has a take on every matter. She said, “ ₹100-100 me protesters available hain.” She should watch her words.
The agricultural sector needs serious structural changes but not in the areas that the government thinks. These reforms should be disucussed with agriculture experts, senior farmer leaders and also ordinary citizens at every level.
Some critics say that the protest is
untimely as the country is already reeling under the pandemic crisis. I wish to
tell them: Vaccine ke bhi pehle roti
chahiye. Vaccine asar kare uske liye bhi roti chahiye. (You need food
before the vaccine. You need food for the vaccine to work). Everyone needs
farmers in order to simply exist. It’s time the government in power and the
average man learnt to respect farmers. They are the backbone of this beautiful
country!
Farmers of
Punjab and Haryana have intensified their protests against Central Agri Laws
and are camping at various protests sites on Delhi border. However, scores of
small farmers in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh have little knowledge of either the
new Central laws or the ongoing protests, even though they say that farming is
a non-profitable occupation and payments from the crop-buyers are erratic and
below MSP.
These
farmers complain of dwindling incomes but have no solution in sight for their
hardships. Clearly, farmer leaders have failed to communicate their agenda to a
broader spectrum of farming community.
Digambar Singh, a farmer from Bhadana,
Punjab, says Narendra Modi machinery underestimated their resolve in putting up
a brave fight against Central laws
Iss bar to aar-par ki ladai hai (It is a do or die
situation this time). Just how much can the farmer bear? Some things are better
left out of the purview of corporates. We are sons of the soil and we
understand the land and its needs much better than corporates. The land we till
is our mother, and not a profit making machine, even though we all like to earn
well.
When
I set out from Bhadana (Punjab) to reach Delhi for protest against the Central
Agriculture Laws, I was sad to see that midway in Haryana, the roads had been
dug overnight so that we couldn’t reach the protest sites. Heavy concrete barricades
had also been placed to block us. Farmers were also being badmouthed. Tear gas,
water cannons, lathicharge… but our
resolve was firm. Nothing is going to stop us this time.
The
government says the various laws are for our benefit and will open up bigger
and better markets for us. But if I am a farmer who grows his crops in Punjab,
should I go and check out the bigger, better markets in, say, Karnataka or
should I be busy sowing the crops? There is already a system in place (adhatiyas) for purchase of our crops and
the farmers have been reaping its benefits because of a guaranteed MSP.
Digambar Singh with fellow protesters at UP Gate protest site
Why
try fix a thing that isn’t broken in the first place? You may improve on the
existing processes but why do a complete overhaul and that too without proper
dialogue with the parties concerned. Farming requires groundwork but the new laws
are silent on MSP.
At
present I am at the UP Gate (Delhi-UP Ghazipur border) with fellow farmers to
register my protest and if the government is going to ignore our voice, then we
will also ignore their voice during elections. Fir satta se bahar jane ki taiyari kar lein wo (They better be
prepared to stay out of power in that case). Farmers across the country have
been committing suicide for many years now and this year the Coronavirus has wreaked
a deadly blow to our income. This is the time to protect farmers and let them
know they are valued.
The
nights here are cold, but we are well-prepared. We have brought rations to last
us for a few days and we have also brought bhattis
along to cook the food. Let’s see for how long we will need to protest. Sometimes
you have to muster up all the strength you have to survive. We are not scared
of Coronavirus even though we are taking all necessary precautions.
Our
kids have lost precious study time, as rural households don’t have easy access
to online learning. Our old parents are suffering. I hear the hospitals are in
bad shape due to the pandemic pressure. Par
jab marna hi hai to kyu na ladte mara jaye (But if we are destined to die, we
shall put up a brave fight?). If the government really wants to help farmers,
why not do it directly by strengthening the health and education systems in rural,
agrarian zones?
As farmers
from Punjab, camping at Delhi-Haryana border, continue with their protests
against three Central agriculture laws, the farming community in Haryana has
also thrown its weight behind them. To understand the position of farmers in
Haryana and Punjab, LokMarg speaks to Veerendra Singh Badkhalsa, general secretary
of Bharatiya Kisan Union, Haryana.
Badkhalsa says there is a trust deficit between farmers and the Centre. The farming community has little faith in the motive behind these new Central laws. Critical of politics behind the laws, he points out that laws brought in by Punjab Assembly have no new provision to safeguard farmers’ interest.
Watch the full interview here:
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