News Analysis India

Tag: Agri Laws

  • To keep farmers’ spirit alive, women kabaddi tournament goes on despite rains at Singhu border

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Singhu border on the outskirts of Delhi, which has been a protest site for farmers for over a month, turned into a kabaddi ground for a women’s tournament on Sunday with rains not dampening the spirit.

    A total of 12 women teams participated in the tournament, which started around 11 am.

    Sukhwinder Singh (55), joint Secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Punjab, who hails from Tarn Taran district of Punjab, said the women themselves came forward to participate in the tournament.

    ALSO READ: Uttarakhand farmers start free bus service to Delhi protest site

    “Teams from different states have come forward and asked us that they want to organise a kabaddi tournament. We have planned different activities for each day to keep people engaged at Singhu border,” he said.

    The winning team will get Rs 2,100 and the runner up Rs 1,100.

    The prize has been announced by people who have donated the amount, Sukhwinder said.

    On Sunday morning, heavy rains lashed parts of the national capital leading to waterlogging at various places and also affecting the protest sites.

    However, the tournament was not affected by the rains.

    ALSO READ: Rains, waterlogging cause inconvenience to farmers protesting at Delhi borders

    Jagbir Singh from Jind district of Haryana and head coach at the tournament said the majority of players are college students.

    “The teams from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have participated in the tournament. We all have come here to support the farmers. The tournament will be concluded today only. There are also some national and international players,” he said.

    The farmers, who have been camping at the site, cheered for the players as the tournament was on.

    “I have played at the state as well the national level from Delhi. The match was good though we could not win it and made to another round. My family was very supportive and they allowed me play the match here,” Ritika Dalal, one of the players, said.

    The matches were being played on the temporary turf.

    Narender Kumar, a kabaddi coach from Rohatk, said that he received a message regarding the tournament on WhatsApp.

    “I received a message on WhatsApp yesterday regarding the matches. It was mentioned that the only girls will play, following which I took my team of 10 girls, including my twin daughters, and reached here this morning. It is a knockout tournament and you have to win each and every match. My team lost by two points but they performed really well,” Kumar said.

    Thousands of farmers, mostly from Delhi’s neighbouring states Punjab and Haryana, have stayed put at the national capital’s border points since late November to protest against the new farm laws.

  • Hundreds of farmers and students from Maharashtra leave for Delhi

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: Hundreds of farmers from various regions of Maharashtra, joined by students and people from various walks of life, on Sunday night left for Delhi from Nagpur to join cultivators who have been protesting at the borders of the national capital for over a month seeking the repeal of three agri laws, a Kisan Sabha leader said.

    He said widows of those farmers who had committed suicide over farm debt and related issues from east Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, have also joined this “Chalo Delhi” vehicle march.

    Earlier in the day, students, youngsters and people from various walks of life hailing from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ahmed Nagar and other districts gathered in Nagpur under the aegis of ‘Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha’.

    They took out a march in afternoon and a meeting was held at Sanvidhan chowk in evening.

    “These farmers and others have left for Delhi in 40-odd vehicles, including buses and four-wheelers,” Nagpur district secretary of Kisan Sabha, Arun Wankar, told PTI.

    He said about 800 members of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha are also going to Delhi to join the protesting farmers.

    “We want to support the farmers who are protesting in a peaceful manner against the three anti-farmer laws which were passed in a dictatorial manner by the Central government,” Wankar said.

    ALSO READ: Uttarakhand farmers start free bus service to Delhi protest site

    Savita Jadhav (26), who came from Parbhani district in Marathwada region along with 35 other women, said her farmer husband and her father committed suicides in 2010 and 2017, respectively, over their failure to repay loans taken for farming.

    “I am going to Delhi to support the cause of farmers. I request the government to rehabilitate the families of those farmers who have committed suicide over loans. I also urge the government to scrap the farm laws in the interest of agriculturists,” she said.

    Braving the cold, thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against the three laws.

    ALSO READ: Rains, waterlogging cause inconvenience to farmers protesting at Delhi borders

    The government has presented these laws as major agriculture sector reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.

    After the sixth round of formal negotiations on Wednesday, the government and farm unions reached some common ground to resolve protesting farmers’ concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues.

  • Heavy rains, winter add to woes of farmers protesting at Delhi borders

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Overnight rains in the national capital added to miseries of farmers who have been camping on the borders of Delhi for over a month in protest against new farm laws, with the continuous downpour leading to waterlogging at agitation venues.

    Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said on Sunday that farmers have waterproof tents but they cannot protect them from biting cold and waterlogging.

    “The situation is very bad at protest sites due to rain which has caused waterlogging. There is so much cold after the rains, but the government is not able to see our misery,” he said.

    ​ALSO READ | Congress asks Centre to abandon ‘obstinate attitude’, withdraw new farm laws

    Gurwinder Singh, who is camping at Singhu Border, said there is waterlogging at some places as civic facilities are not up to the mark.

    “Despite facing several problems, we will not move from here until our demands are met,” he asserted.

    According to a MeT Department official, heavy rainfall was reported in areas across Delhi and minimum temperatures have increased due to clouding and easterly winds.

    “Safdarjung observatory recorded a minimum temperature of 9.9 degrees Celsius, an increase of 6.7 degrees with 25 mm rain. Palam observatory recorded a minimum temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius with 18 mm rain. Rain with hail storm is expected until January 6,” the official said.

    ALSO WATCH:

    Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for more than a month, demanding repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other two issues.

    Bharatiya Kisan Union Ugrahan leader Sukhdev Singh, whose Union is leading the protest at Tikri border, said arrangements made by farmers to brave the cold weather are not helping much because of rains and subsequent waterlogging.