News Analysis India

Tag: Farmers Protest

  • Sachin Tendulkar should be careful about speaking on farmers: Sharad Pawar

    By PTI
    PUNE: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar should be more careful while speaking on farmers’ issues.

    Many celebrities including Tendulkar and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar rallied around the government on social media using hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda following tweets by pop singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg backing farmers.

    When asked about celebrities like Tendulkar and Mangeshkar reacting to the ongoing agitation by farmers against the three new farm laws at the borders of Delhi, the NCP chief said that people had responded strongly.

    READ| Govt shouldn’t put Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar’s reputation at stake: Raj Thackeray

    “I would suggest to Sachin (Tendulkar) that he should be careful while speaking on the issues related to other fields,” Pawar told reporters.

    He alleged the Union government was defaming the ongoing agitation of farmers by calling them “Khalistanis” or terrorists.

    “These agitators are farmers who feed our country. Therefore, it is not right to call them Khalistanis or terrorists,” the former Union agriculture minister said.

  • Farmers’ ‘chakka’ jam’ protest affects Punjab, Haryana; scattered demonstrations in other states

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI/ CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan blocked highways with tractor-trolleys and squatted on key roads on Saturday, while scattered protests were held in other states during a three-hour ‘chakka jam’ called by agitating farmer unions which are demanding scrapping of the Centre’s new agri laws.

    Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait declared that their protest on Delhi’s outskirts will continue till October 2 and farmers will return home only after the government repeals the contentious legislations and makes a law ensuring legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP). “There will be no compromise on this,” he said and asserted that the agitation was for the whole country and not one state.

    No untoward incident was reported in any part of the country during Saturday’s protests though scores of people were detained in several states, including 50 at Shaheedi Park in the national capital which was brought under a thick security blanket in light of the violence during the farmers’ tractor parade on January 26.

    ALSO READ| Opposition misleading farmers to regain lost ground: Uttar Pradesh minister

    Protesters were also held briefly by police as they stalled traffic in parts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Congress and Left parties too joined the protests in some states in support of the ‘chakka jam’ called by the agitating farmer unions.

    While Delhi along with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand was kept out of Saturday’s road blockade from 12 noon till 3 PM by agitating farmer unions, authorities suspended internet at the protest sites of Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri as well as adjoining areas for 24 hours till Saturday night and closed entry and exit facilities at 10 prominent Delhi Metro stations for few hours.

    Singhu border looked crowded than before as more tractors and farmers made their way to the protest sites, while drone cameras, multilayered barricades, nail-studded roads and barbed wires were in place as part of precautionary measures by the police.

    Security forces, including anti-riot police, were deployed at important junctions across the national capital, including Red Fort and ITO, which had witnessed violence on January 26. Officials said that the police also monitored content on social media.

    At the Ghazipur protest site, Tikait, the 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union leader, said, “This movement will continue for a year. It’s an open offer and proposal to the government. A law on MSP will have to be made. Without that, we won’t go back home. Three laws will have to be taken back. Both these demands have to be met and there will not be any compromise on that. There cannot be a bigger movement. We cannot quit the protest.”

    Raising slogans against the Centre, farmers parked their tractor-trolleys or squatted in the middle of roads with posters, flags and banners in Punjab and Haryana, blocking several highways, including the Chandigarh-Zirakpur, Amritsar-Pathankot, Tarn Taran-Kapurthala, Ferozepur-Fazilka, Muktsar-Kotkapura, Bathinda-Chandigarh, Ludhiana-Jalandhar, Panchkula-Pinjore and Ambala-Chandigarh highway, leading to traffic snarls.

    Women also took part in the stir in a sizeable number at several places. Folk songs blared from speakers and people perched atop truck-tractors hoisted the tricolour on the KMP Expressway. Biscuits and fruits were distributed to the protesting farmers sitting on the road.

    Those coming to the stretch with their vehicles were politely informed about the protest and requested to turn back. “We don’t want to create any inconvenience for the people. That is precisely the reason why the call given was for three hours only. Security forces have been blocking — our and their passage — for so many days, we expect the ‘aam aadmi’ to co-operate with us for some hours at least,” said Ajit Ahluwalia (29) from Haryana’s Hisar.

    In Rajasthan, police said that farmers at many places including Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Dholpur and Jhalawar stalled traffic on the highways and main roads and held demonstrations. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh handed over a memorandum to respective district authorities, demanding the withdrawal of the laws.

    Several farmer groups and the Congress held a protest in Mumbai. ‘Rasta roko’ protests were held in Karad and Kolhapur cities in Maharashtra.

    At least 40 protesters, including senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan’s wife Satvasheela Chavan, were detained for holding a protest on a busy road at Kolhapur Naka in Karad in western Maharashtra this afternoon, a police official said.

    Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna leader Raju Shetti and others were detained briefly in Kolhapur. In Telangana, police said several people were taken into preventive custody as leaders of opposition parties joined the farmers in ‘raasta roko’ protests on various.

    Farmers blocked highways in different parts of Karnataka to show their solidarity, following a call given by various farmers’ associations led by Kuruburu Shanthakumar. A few pro-Kannada organisations too came in support of the agitators.

    The demonstrations were held in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kolar, Koppal, Bagalkote, Tumakuru Davangere, Hassan, Mangaluru, Haveri, Shivamogga and Chikkaballapura and protesters courted arrest in some parts of the state.

    Condemning the protests, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers DV Sadananda Gowda said the Narendra Modi government has implemented the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee report to address the agrarian distress and farmers’ suicide.

    Protests were also held in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu. “This is part of the pan India stir for seeking justice for farmers. This is not for political purposes or to inconvenience the general public,” President, coordination committee of Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Association, P R Pandian told reporters.

    Ahead of the nationwide ‘chakka jam’ called by the farmer unions protesting the Centre’s new agri laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted the peaceful ‘satyagraha’ of the ‘annadatas’ is in national interest as the farm laws are “harmful” for the country.

    Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the government over the farmers’ issue by posting on Twitter a picture of the multi-layered barricading at one of the farmer protest sites. “Why are you scaring us with the wall of fear?” she tweeted along with the picture.

    The Congress had on Friday extended support to the countrywide ‘chakka jam’, saying party workers will stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers in their protest.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions protesting the three farm laws, had said on Friday that the peasants across the country will block national and state highways for three hours between 12 noon and 3 pm, barring in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    Tikait claimed inputs had been received regarding some “miscreants trying to disrupt peace” during the “chakka jam”. “This (protest) is for the whole country. They will try to divide us, saying it’s a movement of one state. But that it is not. It’s a pan-India movement,” he added.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding the rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations. However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.

  • Opposition misleading farmers to regain lost ground: Uttar Pradesh minister Sidharth Nath Singh

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Saturday charged the Opposition with misleading farmers and using them to regain their lost political ground. In a statement, Singh alleged that the parties pretending to be championing the farmers’ cause have actually been responsible for their plight since the Independence.

    When the Modi government took over for the first time in 2014, farmers’ interests were given a priority, he claimed, adding that the government expedited the implementation of projects that were pending for several decades.

    “It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who implemented the recommendations of the Swaminathan commission and not the Congress that sat over it for years,” Singh said.

    Farmers are getting one and a half times of their crops’ price today while procurement of seeds and fertilisers has also been made much easier for them unlike in the past when there were long queues for it and they were canecharged, Singh claimed.

    The minister said the PM and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath are committed to doubling the income of farmers and efforts are on to achieve this goal. He alleged that farmers are much better off than they were in the past and this is what upsets the Opposition, which has been exploiting them as a mere vote bank.

    He said that in the Union Budget also, special attention has been given to improving the condition of villages and farmers. “During the Chauri Chaura Centenary celebrations on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the earlier governments used farmers only as a vote bank and made announcements of plans which never saw the light of day whereas now plans were being implemented,” the UP minister added.

    Singh said that the PM had also appealed to farmers to identify their true well-wishers and said it pained the Opposition to see positive changes taking place under the present government.

  • Government shouldn’t put Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar’s reputation at stake: Raj Thackeray

    The MNS chief also wondered how many Indians knew who Rihanna was until she tweeted about agitating farmers #39; plight.

  • We will sit here till October 2: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait Saturday said the protesters demanding the rollback of the contentious agri-marketing laws on Delhi’s outskirts will stay put till October 2.

    “We will sit here till October 2,” said Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), who is camping with his supporters on a stretch of the Delhi-Meerut highway since November.

    Interacting with the press, he claimed a few inputs had been received regarding some “miscreants trying to disrupt peace” during the “chakka jam” that was announced for 12 noon to 3 pm on Saturday.

    “Because of these inputs, we had decided to call off the ‘chakka jam’ in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” the 51-year-old Tikait, credited with reviving the farmers’ stir, said.

    ALSO READ: 50 detained in Delhi for staging protest in support of farmers’ ‘Chakka jam’

    Amid a stringent security set up installed around the Ghazipur protest site, the farmer leader, flanked by his supporters, also interacted with Delhi Police officials.

    “Nobody can touch the farmlands, the farmers will protect it. Both farmers and soldiers should come forward for it,” Tikait said.

    Interacting with security personnel who were on the other side of the barricading, he said, bowing his head and folded hands, “My pranaam (a respectful salutation) to you all. Now you all will protect my farms.” Besides Ghazipur, thousands of farmers are encamping at Tikri and Singhu border points of Delhi since November with a demand that the Centre repeal the three contentious agri-marketing laws, saying these would hurt their livelihoods.

    However, the Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal talks with the protesting groups, has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

  • Peaceful ‘Chakka Jam’ by farmers in Chhattisgarh, Congress extends support

    By Express News Service
    RAIPUR: A three-hour Chakka jam (road blockade) was held peacefully by the farmers in different districts of Chhattisgarh on Saturday.

    The local Congress leaders and workers were seen coming out on the highways to extend the party’s solidarity with the farmers who are protesting against the three farm laws of the Centre.

    The farmers blocked various national and state highways across the districts of Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Rajnandgaon, Mungeli, Janjgir-Champa and other places. Hundreds of vehicles, including buses and trucks, remained stranded on the highways.

    The police forces were deployed to maintain law and order.

    “Chakka Jam was organised in almost every district of the state in response to the nationwide call by the farmers’ unions and to express our unanimity with the farmers protesting against the controversial agricultural laws”, said Sanket Thakur, convenor of Chhattisgarh Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh.

  • ‘Chakka jam’ on KMP Expressway: Protest songs, tricolor and polite request to commuters

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Loud rustic protest songs blared from speakers, the Tricolour fluttered atop trucks and tractors, and commuters mostly waited patiently as farmers blocked the KMP Expressway Saturday as part of their three-hour ‘chakka jam’ to press their demand of repealing the three new agricultural laws.

    The call for the nationwide ‘chakka jam’ between 12-3 pm was given by the farmer unions protesting at the Delhi borders the Centre’s agricultural laws.

    “I came to the stretch at 11 am. There were very few people then, but the number swelled in no time.

    The purpose is to peacefully do just what is instructed to us by our leaders — block the road till 3 pm,” said Mukesh Sharma, a local farmer supporting the movement.

    Biscuits and fruits were distributed among the protesting farmers sitting on the road.

    Those coming to the stretch with their vehicles were politely informed about the protest and requested to turn back.

    ALSO READ | We will sit here till October 2: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    “We don’t want to cause any inconvenience to the people,” said Ajit Ahluwalia (29), from Haryana’s Hisar.

    “That’s precisely the reason why the call given was for three hours only. Security forces have been blocking ours and theirs passage for so many days. We expect the ‘aam aadmi’ to cooperate with us for some hours at least.

    And the truth is they are,” he said.

    Some vehicles, carrying people with emergency health conditions, were allowed to pass without any delay.

    The 136-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway or the western peripheral expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.

    It was built to decongest the ever-busy roads of Delhi, especially by reducing the number of trucks entering the national capital, thus helping to curb pollution.

    It provides high-speed link between northern Haryana and southern districts and gives uninterrupted high-speed link for traffic, especially commercial traffic, from Haryana to neighbouring states.

    The commuters, mostly waiting patiently, said they knew about the ‘chakka-jam’ but had to be out due to social and professional engagements.

    While Satnam Sandhu (42), a private contractor, had to attend a business meeting; Sonu Ahuja and his family were going for his cousin’s weeding.

    “We are farmers ourselves, and support the farmers’ movement completely. I have gone to the Singhu border many a times for the protest.

    And even today, had it not been my cousin’s wedding, you would have seen me here standing and protesting with my farmer brothers,” said 36-year-old Ahuja.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at the Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

    The three-hour-long agitation was announced to register protest against the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites, alleged harassment meted out to farmers by the authorities and other issues.

    Several highways, including the Chandigarh-Zirakpur, Amritsar-Pathankot, Tarn Taran-Kapurthala, Ferozepur-Fazilka, Muktsar-Kotkapura, Bathinda-Chandigarh, Ludhiana-Jalandhar, Panchkula-Pinjore, Patiala-Kaithal, Jind-Karnal, Karnal-Kaithal, Ambala – Chandigarh Highway, Ambala- Hisar and Mansa-Sirsa were also blocked by the protesting farmers.

  • Diversification of agriculture plays major role in increasing farmers’ income, production: UP CM

    The chief minister said a student from Jhansi has boosted strawberry cultivation in Bundelkhand, and had also organised a #39;Strawberry Mahotsav #39; there.

  • Chhattisgarh CM slams nails, barricades at farmer protest sites, accuses govt of internationalising issue

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Slamming the Centre over the treatment of farmers protesting the new farm laws, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday likened the installing of multi-layered barricading and nails at protest sites to the old tactics of “dacoits” blocking routes of villages while caring out robberies, and accused the government of internationalising the farmers’ issue.

    The senior Congress leader also warned that if the government does not resolve the issue of farmers soon, the agitation will spread across the country.

    In an interview to PTI, Baghel said the farmers were demanding that there should be a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) which should be given to them.

    “Why only Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh, in the whole country, crops should be bought at MSP,” he asserted.

    He dismissed the suggestion that the Opposition could not forcefully raise the voice for the farmers on the three farm laws, saying former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was the first one to raise the matter.

    “When these laws were made, Rahul Gandhi was the first one to raise this issue, even in Parliament.

    He also carried out tractor rallies in Punjab and Haryana. He showed the way and then farmers proceeded on that path,” Baghel said.

    The farmers are carrying out a non-political movement which is a good thing, but Rahul Gandhi had taken the initiative, the Chhattisgarh chief minister added.

    He asserted that the Opposition strongly opposed the laws both inside and outside Patliament, and to say that they did not raise their voice forcefully is absolutely wrong.

    Asked about the multi-layered barricading and iron nails studded on roads at the protest sites on Delhi’s border points, Baghel said that in the olden days “when dacoits used to carry out dacoities in villages, they used to cut off all the routes by installing nails and leave just one route open for their exit.”

    “Now, the government is doing that,” he added.

    On the controversy over global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg expressing support to the farmers’ protests, Baghel question the government’s approach of countering them by issuing an official statement.

    “You (the government) are further encouraging this by reacting to it. They (the government) have internationalised it. If you would not have reacted, it would not have been internationalised,” the Chhattisgarh chief minister said.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, the MEA had slammed the remarks made by pop singer Rihanna and other celebrities and activists on farmer protests, saying the facts on the issue must be ascertained before rushing to comment on it.

    Pointing out that India also speaks on issues of other countries such as on the Capitol Hill violence in the US recently, Baghel took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Howdy Modi event, saying he was seen “campaigning” there.

    He urged the government to take care of the economic needs of the farmers and fulfil its promises such as the implementation of the Swaminathan committee report and doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

    “You had talked about implementing the Swaminathan committee report and doubling the farmers’ income by 2022.

    Now we are into 2021, how far have we reached in doubling the farmers’ income, the government needs to answer these questions,” Baghel said.

    If the government does not resolve the farmers’ issue soon, the agitation will spread across the nation, he said.

    To highlight the widespread opposition to the laws, he also pointed out that Rahul Gandhi had met President Ram Nath Kovind and handed over two crore signatures of farmers collected by the Congress against the farm laws.

    Baghel alleged that the primary issue was “that this government does not have a vision”.

    From the time of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, there was a paucity of foodgrains, but Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of green revolution to which the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh responded and supported the government, he said.

    The farmers increased production to such levels that “we became aatmanirbhar as far as foodgrains are concerned”, Baghel said.

    “Now the government does not have a place to keep all the foodgrains. You can’t just keep putting it in godowns as there is a limited capacity.

    They should have acted on time, I had proposed two years ago that states should be allowed to use the surplus foodgrains, be it ‘Makka (maize) or Dhaan (paddy)’, to produce ethanol,” he said.

    “But it is stuck. If you give this permission to states there will be less pressure on the Centre as well as states,” Baghel argued.

    Farmers are producing at the behest of the government, so who will ensure their welfare and why should they not get MSP, he asked.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding the rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.

  • Farmers stage ‘rasta roko’ as part of nationwide ‘chakka jam’ in Maharashtra’s Karad; 40 detained

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A ‘rasta roko’ was staged in Karad city in Satara district of Maharashtra on Saturday as part of the ‘chakka jam’ protest called by farmer bodies agitating at borders of New Delhi against the three new farm laws.

    At least 40 protesters, including senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan’s wife Satvasheela Chavan and farmers, were detained by the police for holding the protest on a busy road at Kolhapur Naka in Karad in western Maharashtra this afternoon, a police official said.

    ALSO READ: Natonwide ‘chakka jam’ begins across states; farmers in Punjab, Haryana block roads

    They were detained under sections 68 and 69 of the Mumbai Police Act and released, he said.

    As per farmer unions, the ‘chakka jam’ includes blocking national and state highways between 12 noon and 3 pm o protest the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites, harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities, and other issues.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding the rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the laws will ensure better opportunities for farmers and bring in new technologies in agriculture.