News Analysis India

Tag: farmers

  • Ban on wheat exports ‘anti-farmer’ move, say Punjab farmers’ unions

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Farmers’ unions in Punjab on Monday dubbed the Centre’s decision of banning wheat exports as an “anti-farmer” move, saying that the Union government is not letting them reap the gains due to higher prices of their crops in the overseas markets.

    They also slammed the Centre for not announcing a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal of wheat, as demanded by them to compensate the drop in the yield on account of shrivelled grains due to intense heat wave in March.

    The Union government has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high prices amid concerns over lower wheat output this year.

    According to the government, the decision will help control retail prices of wheat and wheat flour, which have risen by an average 14-20 per cent in the last one year, besides meeting the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and vulnerable countries.

    A number of farmers, especially big wheat growers, in Punjab have stored the crop in anticipation of fetching higher returns later, said farmers. “It is an anti-farmer decision,” Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said on Monday.

    He said the export ban will hit those farmers who had stored the crop in anticipation of fetching higher returns when the prices would increase in the domestic market.

    Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal too condemned the central government’s decision. “This decision is not in the interest of farmers,” said Lakhowal, adding that the government should have continued with the export to take advantage of higher prices in the international market.

    Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday had slammed the Centre’s decision of banning wheat exports, saying that this move will cause a drop in demand for the crop and farmers will be the worst sufferers.

    The Punjab government on Sunday ordered continuation of wheat procurement operations at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at 232 mandis in the state till May 31.

    The state’s food and civil supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak on Sunday said that the restriction on wheat exports was likely to result in a dip in prices of the food grain in the domestic market.

    “As a result, some farmers who had stored the wheat produce in anticipation of fetching higher prices later, might have a rethink now and opt to sell the wheat. Therefore, it was important that the facility of government purchase at MSP continues to be available to them in order to avoid distress sale,” Kataruchak had said.

    Wheat production in Punjab is expected to drop by around 30 lakh metric tonnes (MT) to 147 MT as against the projection of 177 lakh MT on account of adverse impact on crop yield due to sudden high temperature in the month of March.

    Wheat procurement from Punjab is also expected to miss the target of 132 lakh MT due to lower yield.

    Out of a total arrival of 102.27 lakh MT in grain markets so far, the government procurement agencies have bought 96.17 lakh MT while private traders purchased 6.10 lakh MT, according to official data.

    Punjab Roller Flour Millers Association president Naresh Ghai, however, hailed the Centre’s move, saying that the ban on exports would help in stabilising wheat prices. He said wheat prices in Madhya Pradesh and other state mandis have risen to Rs 2,200 per quintal.

    The Centre has earlier relaxed procurement norms to allow up to 18 per cent shrivelled wheat grains in Punjab and Haryana.

  • Centre postpones ‘healthy boy-girl contest’, asks states to observe ‘Poshan Pakhwa

    Express News Service

    The Centre has postponed the earlier scheduled week-long event ‘Healthy boy-girl contest’ to start from March 21 (Monday) and directed the states to instead begin a two-week-long campaign ‘Poshan Pakhwada’ on nutritional challenges, a senior official said.

    Poshan Pakhwada this year will be rolled out from March 21 to April 4 with the key focus on creating awareness on community-based activities, gender sensitisation, prevention of anaemia, encouraging traditional food for securing healthy mothers and children in the scheduled tribe areas.

    To ensure wider people’s participation all the district collectors and the district project officers of the women & child development department have been asked to seek support from the other departments, local organisations and people’s representatives, panchayats, self-help groups, farmers’ groups, youth clubs to achieve the desired goals of ‘Poshan Abhiyan’.

    Ahead of the campaign, the Chhattisgarh government claimed to have achieved remarkably in the fight against malnutrition. “In the year 2019, 4.33 lakh malnourished children were identified and Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan was launched. So far, 1.72 lakh children are out of the vicious cycle of malnutrition”, CM Bhupesh Baghel said in the Assembly.

    The scheme now is a target-based intervention programme, the children from 6 to 54 months were considered as ‘earmarked’ as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that the child growth standards can be effectively measured under the age of 5 years.

    According to the state WCD officials, The number of malnourished children has declined by nearly 36 per cent in the state since the launch of the ‘Mukhyamantri Suposhan Yojana’.

    Arrangements were made to provide hot-cooked food for children under Suposhan Abhiyan, the supplementary nutritional food to the identified kids at anganwadi centre, distribute free nutritious food at local-level to the malnourished women and children.

  • Jubilant Opposition credits farmers for show of perseverance

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Opposition parties on Thursday termed the decision to repeal the farm laws as a victory of farmers and did not forget to mention that the decision was taken under the fear of BJP losing in upcoming Assembly elections.

    Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the conspiracy hatched by those in power against the farmers has lost and so has the arrogance of dictatorial rulers. “In a democracy, any decision should be taken after talks with every stakeholder and deliberations with the Opposition. I hope the Modi government at least learned something for the future,” she said.

    Other Opposition parties also slammed the government for delay in repealing the farm laws after hundreds of farmers lost their lives. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated the farmers and offered condolences to those who lost their loved ones. “Congratulations to every single farmer who fought relentlessly. They were not fazed by the cruelty with which BJP treated them. This is YOUR VICTORY!” she tweeted.

    Asking the PM to apologise to the farmers for subjecting them to hardships, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said: “We must not forget the sacrifice of more than 750 farmers who lost their lives. The quest for justice for those targeted by the government and its agencies through false cases will continue.” Mehbooba Mufti, president of JKPDP, also hoped that the government will do some course correction by reversing the changes made in J&K from August 2019.

    “Anyone who believes the government repealed the Farm Laws out of the goodness of its heart is completely mistaken. This government only responds to cold hard numbers – bypoll setback = fuel price reduction. Poor internal polls numbers for Western UP & Punjab = Farm laws repealed,” tweeted National Conference’s  Omar Abdullah

    Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav said the farmers have won showing power in unity. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the result of the farmers’ agitation is as a lesson that if the struggle is sincere, success will follow.

    SC panelist to make report publicAnil Ghanwat, member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel which has submitted its report on the contentious farm laws,  said the purpose of the report is over and he will release the report in public domain, if the Supreme Court does not. Ghanwat described as ‘regressive’ the government’s decision to repeal the laws. He added that the panel’s report was in favour of farmers. “If the Supreme Court doesn’t make the report public, I will,” Ghanwat said. “This should not go to the dustbin.”

  • Gurupurab turns special this year for agitating farmers at Singhu border

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Gurupurab was special this time for the agitating farmers at Singhu.  At first, they could not believe that the contentious agriculture laws were repealed. It took some time for the feeling to sink in among the men, women and children present at the protest site.

    Rooted at the national capital’s margin for more than a year, these sons of soil and their families have braved vagaries of weather, police action and the deadly wave of Covid pandemic. Now, all the suffering felt vindicated.

    Smiling faces greeted each other on the success of the protest which started on November 25 last year when thousands of farmers — mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — marched towards Delhi and pitched their tents on the borders.

    By 10am, the stage was set for celebration. While union leaders discussed the Centre’s U-turn and their course of action, the youngsters were in a celebratory mood. Kisan Anthem, a song sung by Punjabi singer Mankirt Aulakh, reverberated across the protest site. Chants of ‘Kisan Ekta Zindabad’ were resounding. An 80-year-old farmer from Haryana broke into a song with the lines of “Modi sarkar ne duniya dukhi banayi.”

    This was followed with laddoos and tea. Many farmers invited mediapersons and expressed their opinion on the development. “We are happy with the announcement. This is the first time the PM has said something. This Gurupurab has brought happiness,  hard work has paid off,” said Nirmal Singh of Kisan Majdoor Sangharsh Samiti.

  • Will miss protest site which witnessed our daily hardship, say farmers at Ghazipur border

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Om Raj excitedly shows his small diary carrying details of all the friends he made at Singhu border, while Manak Singh says he will miss the protest site which witnessed their daily hardship for over a year to convince the Centre to repeal the farm laws.

    Sitting with his friends on a cot near temporary tents set up at Ghazipur border, Raj (85) said the protest venue now feels like home and that the agitating farmers have developed a deep bond with each other.

    The farmer, a native of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, shows his diary in which he has meticulously maintained details of all the protesters he has befriended in the past one year.

    “See this is my tenth diary and there are hardly any pages left. I have maintained details of all the farmers I met here and became friends with over the period. We all stay in touch. The bond that we developed here has only become stronger. I also plan to visit them,” Raj says enthusiastically.

    ALSO READ | Repealing farm laws: Opposition welcomes PM’s decision but says it’s too late

    At Ghazipur border, one of the three prominent venues of the anti-farm laws agitation, protesters were filled with excitement following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of repealing the controversial farm laws.

    Another protestor says he will definitely miss the venue after he will return to his village.

    Asked if he ever went to his hometown during the last one year, Raj recalled that he visited his native place on just two to three occasions and returned within a few days.

    Since the last two months, the elderly farmer has set up a small venture which he starts at around 10 am and closes by 5 in the evening.

    He says the intention behind it was just to have some ‘gupshup’ (conversation) and pass the time with other farmers.

    He also showed the spread of the products for sale — bidis, matchboxes, badges and flags.

    “When the farmers get bored, they sit here and pass time. I sell bidis and matchboxes which usually fetches me around Rs 100 a day,” he said.

    ​ALSO READ | Don’t be adamant, return home: Mos Agri to farmers deciding to continue protest over MSP

    Manak Singh (77), a native of Amroha district in Punjab, says, “This spot has become our place for chit-chat. We will stay here until all the laws are repealed as per legal procedure. We will not go unless all our listed seven demands are met by the central government. This announcement by the Centre could have also been done with upcoming elections in mind.”

    Having braved severe weather conditions and other hardship during their protest, the farmers say this has only made their brotherhood and will power stronger.

    “If the government would have made this announcement earlier, we would not have suffered so much,” a protester rues. Meanwhile, a few tents away, 68-year-old Ram Kumar Sharma, hailing from Nithari village in Noida, had been serving ‘langar’ (free meals) from morning till night, at the protest site for nearly a year now.

    Sharma, who is also a member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, says he comes around 10 am and leaves at night after the last langar is served.

    “I have been organising the langar with the spirit of social service. I will miss the farmers after they will leave the site,” he says.

    “I do not want to see anyone going back with an empty stomach. I am myself a farmer and do not want to see anyone hungry,” he adds.

  • I am a farmer, I know poor farmers can’t afford machinery for stubble management: SC judge

    The apex court was hearing a plea which sought directions to provide stubble-removing machines to small and marginal farmers for free.

  • Fashionable to blame farmers for pollution: SC judge

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  It has become a fashion to fault farmers in recent times for Delhi’s annual air pollution during the winter months, Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant remarked on Saturday, November 13, 2021, while hearing a case relating to rising pollution levels. 

    Justice Surya Kant, who is himself from a farming family, made the observation during a special hearing by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana with Justice D Y Chandrachud and himself. When solicitor general Tushar Mehta brought up the aspect of stubble burning by farmers of Punjab, Haryana and UP as a reason for air pollution in Delhi, the bench stopped him from making further submission and said: “Everyone is bashing the farmers. In Delhi there was a ban imposed on fire crackers, what happened to that? What has Delhi Police done? Tell us about that.”

    ALSO READ: As SC suggests lockdown to tackle Delhi pollution, Kejriwal calls emergency meeting

    At this, Mehta intervened to say that stubble-burning was just part of the problem. “We are not criticising farmers at all and agree that a result-oriented approach is required,” he said. Mehta told the bench that the central government was not blaming the farmers and explained the scheme wherein farmers are given machines to pull out stubble which are given free of cost to marginalised farmers. He said the statutory authority at the Centre had already directed states to levy fine on farmers who resorted to stubble-burning.

    Mehta submitted that 2 lakh machines were available in the market and farmers who cannot afford could take it from cooperative society for free.  But the bench said the problem is not the availability of machines but the enforcement of policy. It asked Mehta whether the government had incentivised the scheme and seek details like how many cooperative societies have been set up, how many machines supplied, and the capital cost involved in providing the machines. 

    Justice Chandrachud also told Mehta to submit information on when the intervention to prevent stubble-burning began. “This year, monsoon got delayed, hence, the window period for a farmer to sow (for) the kharif season is less compared to what it was last year or probably the year before. You should tell us when did cooperative societies reach out to farmers for aiding them in removal of stubble,” he said. Justice Surya Kant agreed with Justice Chandrchud and said both he and the CJI have been farmers and therefore they are aware of the problems faced by them.

    CJI says he learnt English in class 8Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Saturday said he is not a sophisticated speaker and learnt English in Class 8. The comment was in response to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s clarification that he was not suggesting that only farmers are responsible for air pollution in Delhi-NCR. “I don’t have good English for expressing words,” said the CJI. This was in response to Mehta’s remark that “The language in which our response as lawyers is taken might send the wrong message which was not the intention.” Mehta said he too learnt English in Class 8 and studied in Gujarati medium. 

  • Satya Pal Malik backs farmers, criticises Central Vista; says not scared to step down as Governor

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik on Sunday attacked the Centre and the BJP over the farmers’ issue and the Central Vista project, declaring that he is not scared of being asked to step down from his post.

    In a series of remarks here, he said leaders in Delhi send their condolences even when a dog dies but none of them expressed grief on the death of “600” farmers over the course of the agitation against the Centre’s three agri-marketing laws.

    He also referred to the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, asking the government not to antagonise the Sikh Community.

    He said there are people in the government who are in favour of the farmers but “one or two people” are arrogant.

    Appointed Governor — in Jammu and Kashmir and Goa, before being posted to Meghalaya — during Narendra Modi’s term as PM, Malik has been taking swipes at the government.

    The latest remarks were made during an address to the Jat community in Jaipur.

    Malik said he is not afraid of losing his position as Governor for targeting “Delhi leaders” over the farmers’ issue and will step down whenever he is asked to do so.

    The Meghalaya Governor said the protesting farmers will not return from Delhi empty-handed, but after gaining success.

    Referring to the Republic Day violence when farmers in their tractors headed to the capital’s Red Fort, he said after the prime minister it is the right of Jats and Sikhs to hoist the national flag there.

    Farmers from the two communities form the bulk of protesters at Delhi’s borders.

    Malik claimed that the Army has also felt the impact of the protest as the sons of farmers serve there. He said when injustice happens, someday people react to it.

    In an indirect reference to the farmers’ protest against BJP leaders in Haryana, he said Chief Minister M L Khattar’s helicopter cannot land in any village in the state.

    He also targeted the government over the Central Vista redevelopment project, saying it would have been better if it built a world-class college instead of a new Parliament building as the country lacks quality education.

    He said the farmers’ issue can be resolved by addressing the subject of minimum support price (MSP).

    Even before the new farm laws were passed in Parliament, the Adani Group had set up its godown in Haryana’s Panipat, he said.

  • Varun Gandhi posts video of UP man setting fire to crop, seeks agri policy rethink

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday shared a video clip purportedly showing a man setting fire to a heap of paddy crop after his vain efforts to sell it, and sought a rethink of the agriculture policy.

    Gandhi shared the video of the man on Twitter. “Samodh Singh, a farmer of Uttar Pradesh, had been running around mandis for the last 15 days to sell his paddy crop. When paddy did not sell, he in frustration put fire to it himself. Where has this system brought the farmers? The need of the hour is to rethink our agriculture policy,” he said.

    Without making a direct attack, the BJP leader has been critical of the government’s handling of agri issues of late and has also sympathised with the farmers protesting against the three farm laws.

    उत्तर प्रदेश के किसान श्री समोध सिंह पिछले 15 दिनों से अपनी धान की फसल को बेचने के लिए मंडियों में मारे-मारे फिर रहे थे, जब धान बिका नहीं तो निराश होकर इसमें स्वयं आग लगा दी।इस व्यवस्था ने किसानों को कहाँ लाकर खड़ा कर दिया है? कृषि नीति पर पुनर्चिंतन आज की सबसे बड़ी ज़रूरत है। pic.twitter.com/z3EjYw9rIz
    — Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) October 23, 2021

  • Farmers’ protest in Lakhimpur Kheri will lead to change of guard in Uttar Pradesh: Deepinder Hooda

    By PTI

    SITAPUR: Senior Congress leader Deepinder Singh Hooda on Monday said the farmers’ agitation at Lakhimpur Kheri will usher in a change of government in Uttar Pradesh, similar to the change of guards following the Bhatta Parsaul episode a decade ago.

    “I was a part of the Bhatta Parsaul movement and had taken part in the foot-march. The then BSP government had targeted farmers, totally disregarding their self-respect. Today, the same situation is prevailing.

    “After Bhatta Parsaul, there was a change of government in Uttar Pradesh and there will be a change of government in the state now,” Hooda, who was detained in Sitapur while he was on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri, told PTI over the phone.

    In 2011, two policemen and two farmers were killed in clashes following protests over acquisition of land in Greater Noida’s Bhatta Parsaul, a Jat-dominated village that had become the epicentre of agitation against land acquisition in the country.

    Back then, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had visited Bhatta Parsaul disguising his identity and riding pillion on a two-wheeler being driven by his senior party colleague Digvijay Singh as a mark of solidarity with the farmers protesting against the land acquisition taking place under the then Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.

    Hooda, one of the four Congress leaders including party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who were detained in Sitapur while they were on their way to Lakhimpur to meet the family members of the deceased farmers on Sunday night, rejected the ruling BJP’s claims that it has done a lot of work for the welfare of farmers.

    “Had it done good work for the farmers, the farmers would not have to stage protests on the roads,” he said.

    Regarding the allegations levelled by the BJP that non-farmers, especially political activists, penetrated into the farmers’ protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, leading to the incident, Hooda said, “The protest is led by farmers and they are the heroes of the movement. Every farmer is emotionally associated with this agitation. As a responsible opposition, we are extending full support to it and we have the right to do so.”

    With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking the Opposition for raising the farmers’ issue in view of next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, he stressed that the issue of farmers is much bigger than elections.

    Asked if his party will give poll tickets to the family members of the farmers who lost their lives in Sunday’s violence, the Congress leader said, “This is an issue of the farmers, which is bigger than the elections.”

    Sharpening his attack on the BJP, he accused it of being arrogant and showing scant regard to the farmers’ demands.

    “The BJP has ignored the demands of the farmers and has occupied the throne of arrogance from where the ‘pagdhi’ of the farmers is not visible,” Hooda said.

    Recalling the moments of late Sunday night, when the Congress delegation was leaving for Lakhimpur, he said only four party leaders decided to go as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was imposed in the area.

    “At every crossing, we were stopped. If security forces in this strength were deployed in Lakhimpur Kheri, the violence could have been prevented,” Hooda said.

    “The incident has embarrassed humanity. The minister has not resigned yet nor has he been removed. He must resign on moral grounds,” he said, referring to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Misra, whose son has been named in an FIR filed at the Tikonia police station in connection with Sunday’s incident.

    Hooda also claimed that the Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, were manhandled by the policemen, adding, “That is not an issue. The real issue is that of the farmers.”

    Eight people were killed as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    Of the eight dead, four were travelling in cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the minister.

    They were allegedly thrashed to death.

    The four others were farmers, officials said.