News Analysis India

Tag: Minimum Support Price

  • Farmer Leader’s Big Allegation, Says Paramilitary Forces Abducted Six People By Crossing Into Punjab |

    After the farmer unions halted their ‘Dilli Chalo’ march yesterday for two days after violent clashes at the Khanauri border, they held a media briefing today at the Shambhu Border making serious allegations against the paramilitary forces and Haryana police. The farmer leader claimed that the security forces crossed the border and attacked tents set up inside Punjab. They also claimed that their six people had been taken away by the forces.

    “We condemn the move of paramilitary forces crossing into Punjab and attacking the tents of the farmers. Punjab government should answer this how it allowed Haryana police and paramilitary forces to cross the border,” he said.

    The leader added that six people were missing in action. “Our six people whom the security forces took away are missing in action. Even during a war, paramedics and doctors are not attacked as per humanity. But in Khannauri, they attacked medical camps and doctors treating the injured and looted the people. This government has crossed the limits of barbarism,” the farmer leader alleged.

    VIDEO | “Paramilitary forces and Haryana Police forces crossed the (state) border and attacked the farmers’ camp in Punjab. Our six people are missing after the action. Punjab government should give the answers,” says a farmer leader while addressing a press conference at Shambhu… pic.twitter.com/DF6f5HohLX


    — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 22, 2024

    Farmers and security forces clashed at the Shambhu and Khannauri border of Haryana and Punjab as the agitators were not allowed to enter Delhi. After rejecting the governenment proposal for purchasing certain crops on MSP for five years, the farmers resumed their ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest call yesterday but due to clashes, they had to halt the march for 48 hours. 

    On the other hand, the government has invited farmers for further talks. The farm leaders and the Union minister held four round of talks which remained unsuccessful. General Secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor, Sarwan Singh Pandher, reiterated the demand for a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) and assured a ‘peaceful’ approach going ahead. The protesting farmers have been camping at the Shambhu border near Ambala since the start of the march on Tuesday, February 13. 

  • MSP to get legal guarantee if INDIA bloc comes to power: Rahul Gandhi in Bihar

    Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party will accept long-pending demands of farmers in the country and ensure a legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) of crops if the INDIA bloc comes to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the ‘Kisan Nyay Panchayat’, a gathering of farmers, in Bihar’s Rohtas, as part of his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Gandhi claimed that “cultivators are not getting the remunerative prices for their crops”.

    “If the INDIA bloc comes to power after the general elections, we will give a legal guarantee to MSP. Whenever farmers have asked for something from the Congress, it has been given to them. Be it loan waiver or MSP, we have always protected the interests of cultivators and will do so in future,” Gandhi said.

    His comment comes at a time when Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ body, called for ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Friday to press the BJP-led central government to accept cultivators’ demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops. Farmers from Punjab began their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Tuesday but were stopped by security personnel at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Delhi and Haryana.

    The protesting farmers have been camping at the border points ever since. Their agitation entered the fourth day on Friday.

    The Congress MP also slammed the BJP-led central government, accusing it of “transferring a considerable portion of funds of the defence budget into the pockets” of an industrialist. “The Centre’s defence budget is not for the welfare of jawans and all defence contracts are going to a corporate group only,” he alleged. Gandhi also criticised the Centre for the ‘Agniveer’ scheme, saying, the Union government has “divided the army into two categories – Agniveer and regulars”.

    “If an Agniveer is injured or martyred, they will not receive adequate compensation. Why is this discrimination? Why have they created separate categories in the Army for Agniveer and others?” the Congress MP asked.

    Earlier, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav joined Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’. which resumed from the party’s district office in Sasaram this morning and is expected to enter Uttar Pradesh through Mohania in Kaimur district in the evening.

    Yadav and Gandhi were seen sitting on the roof of a sports utility vehicle, which was slowly moving, and they waved at enthusiastic crowds that gathered along the main road of the town.

    Locals queued up on both sides of the road and watched the procession. Earlier, Yadav was seen driving the SUV with Gandhi and other leaders on board.

    Both leaders of the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ will also address a public meeting in Kaimur around 3 pm on Friday.

    The ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which started in Manipur on January 14, is scheduled to cover 6,713 km in 67 days, passing through 110 districts in 15 states, before culminating in Mumbai on March 20.

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  • farmers protest: Mamata Banerjee condemns ‘assault’ on protesting farmers in Haryana

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday condemned the firing of tear gas shells at protesting farmers in Haryana, dubbing it as “BJP’s brutal assault” on cultivators. The Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers who tried to break barricades set up at the state’s border with Punjab at Shambhu near Ambala, as growers demanding a law on minimum support price marched toward Delhi.

    “How can our country progress when the farmers are attacked with tear gas shells for fighting for their basic rights? I strongly condemn the brutal assault on our farmers by the BJP,” Banerjee said in a post on X.

    “Instead of suppressing their protest, BJP must focus on humbling their inflated egos, power-hungry ambitions, and inadequate governance that has harmed our nation,” she added.— MamataOfficial (@MamataOfficial) The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced that farmers would head to Delhi on Tuesday to press for their demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    In Delhi, security has been intensified with multi-layer barricades, concrete blocks, iron nails and walls of containers at border points, officials said.

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