India's farmers, government in uneasy standoff after tumultuous Delhi protest

© Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images Farmers protest against the Indian central government's recent agricultural reforms at the Red Fort in New Delhi on Jan. 26. Clashes with police that day left at least one person dead and hundreds injured.

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In the wake of clashes between demonstrators and police in Delhi on Jan. 26, India's Republic Day, the government has been pushing back against the tens of thousands of farmers protesting the nation's new agricultural laws.

The government shut down the internet in parts of Delhi and surrounding areas this week in a move to hamper the protests and their organizers.

"People are not able to communicate with each other, they can't call home, they don't know what is happening on a political level with regards to the movement," said Nidhi Suresh, a Delhi-based journalist who has been covering the protests for the past two-and-a-half months.

India's Ministry of Home Affairs said the crackdown was "in the interest of maintaining public safety and averting public emergency." Internet service was reportedly back in some areas Friday afternoon, but whether it will be cut again is unclear.

Security forces have also put up barricades to keep people from easily accessing the protest camps, some of which now span several kilometres.

India's Republic Day unrest marked a change in the tone of the ongoing protest, as huge crowds converged on the nation's capital. A group stormed the barricades at the historic Red Fort, resulting in violent clashes with police. At least one person died, and hundreds of police and protestors were reported injured.

Several journalists have also been charged with sedition over their coverage of the events.

The confrontation has compromised the movement's commitment to peaceful protest. Since then the farmers, many of whom are Sikhs from nearby Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have condemned the violence and have returned to camps located on major roadways bordering the nation's capital — Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur.

"[We] were disappointed by the violence on Republic Day. But we are still united. It's a bigger movement than just the farmers' leaders and the politicians," said a law student and farmer from Haryana, Bhupender Chaudhary.

"It's now a protest for all of the people."

Along with the three large border protests, sympathy demonstrations have also sprung up in recent months. The largest, on Nov. 26, saw some 250 million people participate in a general strike all over the country.

"I have marvelled at how brilliantly people from such humble backgrounds have been negotiating with the government," said Gurpreet Wasi, a volunteer with Khalsa Aid based in Delhi. "Despite having thousands of differences on the ground, they have really projected a unified front."

© Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images Farmers take part in a tractor rally 

in New Delhi on Jan. 26.

Agricultural reforms

The farmers are protesting new laws brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in September. They say the bill will wipe out small farmers and give corporations far too much control of India's agricultural industry.

"For marginal, small farmers in places like Haryana, it's hard to sustain a living," said Chaudhary. "Their kids will starve if they get pushed out of the market."

Many farmers fear the government will eliminate the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which regulates the price of their crops. Modi has responded to this, saying the MSP will remain in place:

On Wednesday, Modi reiterated that his government has taken several steps to make India's farmers more "self-reliant" in the past six years.

So far, the Indian government has held several rounds of talks with leaders of the 40 farmers' unions fronting the movement. The leaders are demanding a complete repeal of the laws, but Delhi has only agreed to delay any reforms for 18 months.

Chaudhary, whose village grows chickpeas, wheat and mustard, has seen the challenges his community faces first hand. He was among the first to travel to nearby villages to explain the reforms and mobilize support. It started small.

"Sometimes we had only 10 people with us," he said.

© Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images 

Farmers work in a field on the outskirts of Amritsar on Feb. 1. 

The agricultural sector employs 70 per cent of India's working population.

India's massive agricultural sector, which employs 70 per cent of the working population, has been in crisis for years due to a number of factors including punishing droughts that have left already-indebted farmers with poor crop yields. Many have taken their own lives — the National Crime Records Bureau says that more than 10,000 farmers and farm labourers died by suicide in 2019 alone.

"For the last 10 to 12 years, there's been such a spate of farmer suicides," said Suresh.

The journalist points out that fighting the new laws is only part of their struggle.

"It's now a protest of dignity, it's a protest of who gets heard and who should be getting heard and what the due process is," she said. "Shouldn't affected parties and communities be consulted at all before such a bill is brought in?"

"It's the responsibility of the state to try and come up and hear their own people, and have a conversation that they can trust," added Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asian Director of Human Rights Watch. "But there is a huge trust deficit … which is why the conversations are not not coming to a satisfactory conclusion."

Security barricades

© Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters A security officer walks past metal spikes installed in the ground by the Delhi police as a security measure at Tikri Border, one of the areas near Delhi where farmers are protesting, in this Feb. 4 photo.

Chaudhary and his family have been at the Tikri border since November, where a large police presence surrounds the area. Police have now embedded nails in the ground to puncture the tires of vehicles that try to pass through.

"At first, there was fear and anxiety when we heard the news that the government was bringing in security forces," he said. "But they can't do anything now, there are too many of us."

At Singhu, heavy barricades and road closures make it impossible for anyone to access the camps. The police have dug up crater-like trenches along the route to make travel difficult.

"You have to walk almost two kilometres to get close, and once you're there they won't let you in and ask you to take a detour," Suresh said, adding that many journalists are afraid of getting arrested and detained when they get to the sites.

"It's a strategy to keep people out."

However, the security forces have also been reluctant to resort to violence.

"The one thing that the government appears to have tried very hard to do is ensure that security forces act with restraint," Ganguly said. "But the fact that it needs this sort of barricading of borders seems a little unfortunate, in terms of what the government was trying to achieve."

© Arun Kumar/AFP via Getty Images 

Protesting farmers take a bath along a blocked highway on Jan. 29

 at the Delhi-Haryana state border in Singhu.

Inside the barricades, farmers and their families have set up shelters, community kitchens (a Sikh practice called langar), and even services like laundry, but the nights are cold, and running water and electricity are not always available.

With the road closures, local volunteers are unable to keep bringing in supplies like warm clothes and blankets from Delhi.

Besides the risk associated with COVID-19, people on the ground say sanitary conditions at the crowded camps are getting worse.

"Disease is something they are getting concerned about now," Suresh said, "because there's no proper sanitation and there's stagnation of water."

At least 70 farmers have died at the sites, according to the farmers unions, but there are no official government numbers and Suresh says some believe the toll is likely higher.

"Many of the farmers are old, some of them are struggling in the cold, some of them have had heart attacks," Chaudhary said.

The deaths have weighed on him.

"You naturally start to feel defeated, but we are carrying on."

Some villages, including Chaudhary's, have set up a system — if 10 people need to return home, then 10 people replace them at the border, allowing farmers to take care of their homes and tend to their crops.

Protestors are estimated to have brought in six months worth of rations, and they are mobilizing more support through grand village council meetings (panchayats) happening all around Delhi.

"As an eyewitness being there for the last two and a half months, I can say with full clarity that I don't see any dwindling of crowds," said Suresh.

© Adnan Abidi/Reuters Farmers listen to a speaker at Singhu 

border near New Delhi on Jan. 30.

Online maneuvering

Protest activities and government responses are also playing out online.

Internet blackouts like the one this week have become a pattern in India as a way for the government to address dissent. Statista reported that in 2018, India was by far the country that implemented the most internet shutdowns.

"It has become the go-to strategy when they want to contain any kind of public protest, because they believe a lot of communication and organizing occurs over the internet," Human Rights Watch's Ganguly said.

Meanwhile, a statement from India's Ministry of External Affairs also suggests the government is concerned that interest groups have "tried to mobilise international support against India." The government maintains that the farmer protests are an internal matter, after recent tweets of support for the protests from celebrities including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg.

© Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images Activists with the United Hindu Front (UHF) hold placards and pictures of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Barbadian singer Rihanna during a demonstration in New Delhi on Feb. 4, after the celebrities made comments on social media about ongoing mass farmers' protests in India.

And public support for the farmers' position isn't unanimous.

This week, along with attempts to block hundreds of protest-related accounts on social media that have become the driving force of the movement, there was a concerted pro-government hashtag campaign.

When NDP leader Jagmeet Singh thanked Rihanna for "empowering the voices of the oppressed" on Instagram, for example, a number of Indian officials and celebrities fired back using the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.

Cricket star Sachin Tendulkar wrote, "India's sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants."

Ultimately, online discourse isn't what Ganguly is concerned about.

"That's still in the peaceful conversation space," Ganguly said. "Our concern is almost always what happens if there is violence. And what happens in terms of state response, whether they are punishing dissent in any way."

There are more demonstrations expected in the coming days. The farmers say they refuse to stop protesting until they are properly consulted on agricultural reforms that they fear will have a huge impact on their lives.

"Our elders told us to stand our ground and said, look, we're not turning around and we're not going to be afraid," said Chaudhary. "So we don't plan on moving now. Our tractors and our trolleys are going to stay put."

Why Are Twitter Users Trying To “Expose” Greta Thunberg?

Since she first rose to prominence, 18-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg has faced (and expertly handled) opposition and harassment from many corners of the internet, including Twitter’s biggest cyberbully and least favorite U.S. president. But in a bizarre turn, figures in India are trying to “expose” Thunberg on Twitter, arguing that she that she and Rihanna (yes, Rihanna) are misrepresenting the ongoing farmer protests throughout the country and pushing a global conspiracy theory.

© Provided by Refinery29 HAMBURG, GERMANY – MARCH 01: Teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg demonstrates with high school students against global warming at a Fridays for Future demonstration on March 01, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. Fridays for Future is an international movement of students who, instead of attending their classes, take part in demonstrations demanding for action against climate change. The series of demonstrations began when Thunberg staged such a protest outside the Swedish parliament building. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)

This week, Thunberg and Rihanna — along with a few other celebrities, including Mia Khalifa — tweeted out links to articles about the current protests in India, which have been ongoing since November. The protests, which are pushing back against recent laws that will strip farm workers of guaranteed wages, have been a point of contention within the country. In an effort to raise awareness, Thunberg shared a Google doc with information about how to help India’s farmers on social media. But she deleted that tweet after supporters of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, began tweeting #GretaThunbergExposed and questioning the purpose of the document.

“@GretaThunberg has exposed the global conspiracy that she is a part of,” wrote the Republic Media Network, a right-wing news channel in India. “If you read the contents of the Google doc that she shared, it’s clear that there’s an orchestrated, scripted, and well-funded plan to target India, Indian companies, and Indian democracy.”

It should be noted that Republic TV has been accused of spreading false news and bias in favor of the Bharatiya Janata Party. And now, they are falsely implying that Thunberg is at the center of some kind of international plan to attack Indian democracy. Like previous conspiracy theories about Thunberg, this one is wrong.

The protests date back to a series of laws implemented last September. The main takeaway is that, under the new legislation, workers won’t be given guaranteed wages and will instead be allowed to sell their crops to anyone, at any price. The government insists that this will help India’s economy, but farmers argue that the laws will only lower the costs of their goods and leave agriculture workers across the country vulnerable to exploitation.

To fully grasp the magnitude of the problem, it’s important to recognize how many people are impacted by these changes. Not only does the industry make up almost 15% of India’s economy, but 58% of Indians cite agriculture as their family’s primary source of livelihood. The Indian government released a response to Thunberg’s call to action, writing that the protestors represent “a very small section of farmers in parts of India” who simply have “reservations” about the new laws.

“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” the external affairs ministry wrote on Wednesday.

However, Thunberg isn’t the one presenting inaccurate, irresponsible information. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have participated in the protests; many have camped out around Delhi for months. The government has escalated its attempts to stop the movement by obstructing protestors’ access to food and water and, more recently, shutting down internet access. There have also been concerns about freedom of the press since multiple journalists were detained for purportedly “inciting” the farmers at the border between Delhi and Haryana.

The internet shutdown has especially impacted people in India and drawn national attention to the protests. “I work tirelessly in the day, helping with the arrangements at the protest site,” 25-year-old Harneet Singh told The Guardian. “Normally, a video call in the evening with the family would relieve my stress but the internet shutdown is choking us.”

Critics believe that the aim of the shutdown was to slash communication between farmers from different protest sites, and communication between protestors and the rest of the world. “The government does not want the real facts to reach protesting farmers, nor their peaceful conduct to reach the world,” Darshan Pal said in a statement, according to CNN. Pal is a leader from Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a united front of over 40 farmers’ unions that banded together to protest the new legislation. He added that the government is afraid of different unions contacting each other and teaming up. “Typically, these village groups work together against each other, but this time they have all united for the collective fight.”

The protests came to a head on January 26, also known as India Republic Day. Farmers entered the capital of Delhi and clashed with the police, who reacted with tear gas and batons. The conflict left many protestors and members of law enforcement injured, and Delhi police called it an “anti-national act.”

The reality is, Thunberg hasn’t been exposed as anything other than a staunch activist, and her role in the protests isn’t dissimilar from the role she has played countless times before. She’s using her platform to raise awareness and attract attention to an important movement. And she probably isn’t going to let a hashtag stop her.

1 tweet from Rihanna on farmer protests gets India incensed

NEW DELHI — It took just one tweet from Rihanna to anger the Indian government and supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party. The pop star linked a news article in a tweet drawing attention to the massive farmer protests that have gripped India for more than two months.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Now, senior government ministers, Indian celebrities and even the foreign ministry are urging people to come together and denounce outsiders who try to break the country.

“It is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them,” India's foreign ministry said Wednesday in a rare statement criticizing “foreign individuals” posting on social media. It did not name Rihanna and others who followed suit.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been hunkering down at the Indian capital’s fringes to protest new agricultural laws they say will leave them poorer and at the mercy of corporations. The protests are posing a major challenge to Modi who has billed the laws as necessary to modernize Indian farming.

Their largely peaceful protests turned violent on Jan. 26, India’s Republic Day, when a section of the tens of thousands of farmers riding tractors veered from the protest route earlier decided with police and stormed the 17th century Red Fort in a dramatic escalation. Hundreds of police officers were injured and a protester died. Scores of farmers were also injured but officials have not given their numbers.

Farmer leaders condemned the violence but said they would not call off the protest.

Since then, authorities have heavily increased security at protest sites outside New Delhi’s border, adding iron spikes and steel barricades to stop demonstrating farmers from entering the capital. The government had also restricted access to mobile internet at protest sites up until Tuesday evening.

The latest controversy started Tuesday when Rihanna tweeted to her more than 101 million followers: “Why aren’t we talking about this?!” She linked to a CNN news report about India blocking internet services at the protest sites, a favoured tactic of the Modi government to thwart protests.

The Associated Press and multiple other international news agencies have been covering the farmer protests for months.

Soon after Rihanna's tweet, international condemnation from human rights groups and outrage from Indian supporters of Modi’s party followed. And the foreign ministry accused “foreign individuals” and celebrities of “sensationalism,” without names.

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and the niece of U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, Meena Harris, were among those who tweeted their support, triggering a social media storm back in India.

Bollywood entertainers and sports stars, many of whom have long been silent on the farmer protests and often toe the government's line, tweeted in one voice.

They used hashtags #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaTogether, echoing the government’s stand on the agriculture laws, and asked people outside India not to meddle with their country’s affairs.

“No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India,” actress Kangana Ranaut, a supporter of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, tweeted.

Rihanna’s and Thunberg's tweets also prompted responses from almost every senior leader of BJP, including Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Home Minister Amit Shah, who said that “no propaganda can deter India’s unity.”

The main opposition Congress party leader Shashi Tharoor said the damage done to India’s global image by the government’s “undemocratic behaviour” could not be restored by making celebrities tweet.

Tharoor in a tweet said Indian government getting “Indian celebrities to react to Western ones is embarrassing."

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram took a swipe at the foreign ministry and called its statement “puerile reaction.”

“When will you realize that people concerned with issues of human rights and livelihoods do not recognize national boundaries?,” Chidambaram tweeted.

Negotiations between representatives of the government and farmers to end the protests have failed. The government has proposed suspending the laws for 18 months but is not meeting the farmers' demands for a full repeal.

Sheikh Saaliq, The Associated Press

Sikh diaspora drums up global support for farmers' protest in India


By Mayank Bhardwaj, Manoj Kumar


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Thousands of Indian farmers protesting against deregulation of agriculture markets are drawing strength from Sikhs around the world who are urging foreign governments to intercede with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


FILE PHOTO: Farmers take part in a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament on the outskirts of Delhi, India, December 17, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Farmers, mostly from the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab, have been camped on the borders of New Delhi since last month, demanding Modi roll back the reforms intended to bring investment in the antiquated farm sector but which the farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Sikhs living overseas, most of whom have families at home tied to the farms, have picked up the thread in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, demonstrating outside Indian embassies to draw attention.

On Thursday, 250 to 300 Sikhs and other overseas Indians took part in a rally in a Melbourne district to express their support for India’s farmers, said Rajbir Singh, who runs a small transport business in Melbourne.

On Saturday, people of Indian origin plan to carry out similar protests near the state parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, said Siftnoor Singh, a data scientist.

“The new laws will bring economic devastation to our motherland, and we can’t simply close our eyes and pretend that everything is alright back home,” he told Reuters by phone.

The farmers’ fear is that by allowing companies such as Walmart and India’s Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail arm to buy directly from farmers, the government intends to weaken the traditional markets where their rice and wheat are guaranteed a minimum price.

Sikhs and other Indian Punjabis overseas are estimated at 12 million. They form a tightly knit group and are vociferous in articulating the concerns of the community back home.

Since the farmers’ protest started more than two weeks ago in India, members of the diaspora have participated in protest marches - mostly consisting of 400 to 600 people - in nearly 50 different cities of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, protesters and their families said.

The government has declined comment on the protests overseas. But underlining India’s sensitivity about what it sees as foreign interference in its internal affairs, New Delhi summoned Canada’s ambassador this month to convey displeasure after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the farmers had a right to protest.

‘HAND THAT FEEDS YOU’

“I’ve been approached by many concerned people of Indian origin who are based in Victoria to speak about the issue,” Samantha Ratnam, parliamentary leader of Australia’s Victorian Greens party, recently told the state legislative council.

Relatives and supporters of the farmers gathered this month even in the small town of Canton, Michigan, in the United States, carrying placards saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “I stand with farmers”. Other protesters staged a demonstration outside the Indian embassy in Washington.

In Canada, home to a Sikh community that is politically influential, residents of Indian origin have vowed to step up their support for India’s protesting farmers.

“We are taking part in regular protests to bring it to the notice of local authorities who can help us amplify our voices,” said Amanpreet Singh Grewal, a resident of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. “We are committed to support our farmers in India.”

Many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) own farmlands in Punjab and fear the sweeping changes that the government plans will hurt them economically.

“Punjabi NRIs are worried that if these laws are implemented, and result in fall in crop procurement prices, it would lead to substantial fall in the value of their farm lands and yearly income from land contracts,” said Avtar Singh Gill, 64, who is now settled in Punjab after four decades in the UK.

Mewa Singh, the chief of the NRI council in the Ropar district of Punjab, said organisations such as his that represent overseas Indians were helping farmers mobilise people in villages, arranging transport for them, and collecting milk and rations for supplying to the protesters sleeping out in the open near Delhi.

Singh said his son, the manager of a basketball team in Houston, Texas, was leading protests there.





“We can’t allow Prime Minister Modi to take away what we have gained over the years through hard work and political struggle,” Mewa Singh said.

In Britain, Sikh groups wield influence and have been making the case for British leaders to raise the issue with their Indian counterparts even if the Modi government baulks at such involvement.

Jas Singh, an adviser at the Sikh Foundation, said the community had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to lobby their case.

“Worried by the use of disproportionate force against many elderly protesters, we’ve also reached out to the United Nations to ask India to protect farmers’ right to peaceful protests,” Jas Singh said.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Manoj Kumar; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan

INDIA
Farmers in Over 400 Districts Observe 'Quit WTO Day' Against Inclusion of Agri Sector in WTO Pact


Newsclick Report | 27 Feb 2024

The SKM called for 'Quit WTO Day' on Monday, February 26, in the backdrop of the 13th WTO Ministerial in Abu Dhabi.

Farmers, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), protested on the streets of Haryana and Punjab against the inclusion of the agriculture sector in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement.

The SKM had called for 'Quit WTO Day' on Monday, February 26, demanding the removal of the agriculture sector from the WTO agreement. Farmers observed the protest by parking their tractors on highways in Haryana and Punjab.

The images of tractor rallies with farmers burning the effigies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and State Home Minister Anil Vij started pouring in from the morning. The farmers tied the flags of their organisations on their vehicle bonnets and raised slogans like ‘Give MSP now, Boycott WTO, Inquilab Zindabad.’

Apart from SKM, SKM (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) also observed the protests by burning effigies of WTO at Khanauri and Shambhu borders. These organisations are leading the 'Dilli Chalo' march.

The 'Quit WTO Day' protest came "against the backdrop of the 13th Ministerial Conference of WTO which started on Monday in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and will continue till February 29."

"We demand that agriculture should be taken out of the WTO agreement. It is high time the government understands the concerns of farmers," said Sukhmandar Singh, president of BKU (Rajewal).

Darshan Pal, member of the national coordination committee of SKM, said, "Farmers have realised the threats to the agriculture sector due to the agreements of India with WTO. It is high time the consumers also understand them."

Balbir Thakan, president, All India Kisan Sabha Bhiwani, said anger of farmers could be gauged from the fact that more than 2600 farmers took 1,400 tractors on 10 major state and national highways in the district alone.

Talking to NewsClick over the phone, he said, “Farmers are also understanding that if mustard is being dumped in the Indian market, our prices will crash. We as organisation leaders make common farmers aware about these developments. However, farmers are very much enraged about treatment meted out to common farmers at the borders. We are also gearing up for our huge national meeting of farmers in Ramlila Maidan on March 14.”

According to an Indian Express report, farmers parked their tractors at several locations in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, including the Jalandhar-Jammu National Highway. The protesters in Punjab also called for legal guarantees on minimum support price (MSP), pensions for farmers, implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations and debt waivers.

Similar protests where farmers parked their tractors on national highways from 12 noon to 3 pm were observed in Haryana's Hisar and Ajnala, Jandiala Guru, Beas and Rayya regions of Punjab.

Meanwhile, there has been no movement in the deadlock between the 'Dilli Chalo' farmer unions and the Punjab government even five days after the death of a young farmer from Punjab.

Jagjit Singh Dallewal, coordinator of SKM (non-political), urged the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to speak to the farmers and register an FIR against the Haryana police officers who allegedly opened fire at the protest site.

"This dharna will continue till our demands are met. Even after the model code of conduct comes into force owing to the upcoming parliamentary elections, this protest will continue. The government may not take any action on the pretext of the election model code of conduct, but we have nothing to do with the elections," said Sarwan Singh Pandher, KMM Coordinator.

Farmers organisations have been maintaining that India’s food security and price support programmes are subjects of repeated disputes at WTO. The major agricultural exporting countries, has proposed a 50% cut in the global level of WTO members’ entitlements to support agriculture by the end of 2034.

In a press statement SKM said,”The issue of public stock-holding is most critical for India especially in view of the ongoing struggles of farmers and workers for the MSP to be fixed at C2+50% level and for a statutory guarantee of the MSP to all farmers. In fact in India, 90% of the farmers are out of the purview of the present system of MSP based on A2+Fl+50% and facing acute agrarian crisis and indebtedness.”

It added: “The resultant intensifying unemployment, poverty and rural to urban distress migration have created precarious situations in the countryside during the least ten years of Modi rule. The Government of India must firmly defend the rights of the country to protect its farmers and ensure national food security. No international institutions or agreements can be allowed to come in the way of these [guarantees].”

The SKM maintained that the Indian government was given a lease in 2014, as an exception for five years, allowing it not to implement conversion of PDS (public distribution system) into cash transfer. “India's food stocking program for PDS is exempted from challenge by WTO members under the temporary peace clause. That is likely to be upturned and if so, India needs to Quit WTO to prevent WTO regulations from interfering in its food security programs and agriculture production,” it said.

Meanwhile, the joint platform of central trade unions too extended its solidarity to the rally and said, “It is most deplorable that these forces violated federal structure and respect to sovereign rights of state governments and used these oppressive measures in the territory of Punjab, not only with water cannons and plastic pellets but metal pellets were also used. Use of drones on the food producer Annadata seeking for their genuine demands was most barbaric. Not only that, the forces went inside Punjab boundary and damaged more than 50 tractors and vehicles of farmers, they continued picking up people at random.”

“We demand judicial enquiry to investigate the killing of the young farmer, to fix responsibility and registration of a case under Sec. 302 of IPC for stringent punishment to the culprit and compensate the farmers for the huge damage done to their tractors and vehicles. The CTUs extend their unequivocal solidarity to the programme called by the SKM for a Mahapanchayat on March 14 at Ramlila ground, Delhi on their demands,” the statement read.

INDIA FARMERS REVOLT

Cancellation of UK PM Boris Johnson's visit our victory, Modi government's 'defeat': Farmer unions

Farmer unions protesting against the three new agri laws claimed the cancellation of UK PM Boris Johnson's visit to India later this month was a political win.

Published: 07th January 2021 


PM Narendra Modi (Photo | PTI)
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Farmer unions protesting against the three new agri laws Wednesday claimed the cancellation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visit to India later this month was a "political win" for them and a "diplomatic defeat" for the government, and asserted their agitation has been receiving global support.

Johnson was scheduled to attend the Republic Day celebrations in India as Chief Guest, but the visit had to be cancelled due to the growing health crisis in the UK after a new variant of coronavirus emerged there.

"The cancellation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's India visit is a political win for farmers and a diplomatic defeat for the Modi government...political and social organisations across the world have been supporting the agitation," Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the protesting farmer unions, said in a statement in Hindi.

The statement said the farmers have already announced a tractor protest march on January 26 and a "rehearsal" for it on January 7.

ALSO READ: Agri laws: Wisconsin Speaker supports farmers' protests; writes to Indian, US envoys

"The cancellation of the UK prime minister's visit because of all these efforts is surely a big victory for farmers," the statement said.

According to a release issued by the Prime Minister's office here on Tuesday, PM Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Johnson.

"Prime Minister Johnson reiterated his thanks for India's invitation for him as the Chief Guest of the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations, but regretted his inability to attend in view of the changed COVID-19 context prevailing in the UK. He reiterated his keenness to visit India in the near future," it had stated.

The protesting farm unions have claimed that around 80 farmers have died --they have called them "martyrs" -- since their agitation began.

ALSO READ: SC to hear pleas against new agri laws, all issues related to farmers protest on January 11

"Farmers' movement is now becoming people's movement," the Morcha statement said.

Meanwhile, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, one of the 40 protesting unions, alleged in statement that the Central government is "non-serious" on the demands of peasants.

"The Central government is non-serious about talks and solving farmers' problems. In the 7th round of talks, it finally stated clearly that it has understood that the demand is for repeal and that it will have to undertake 'further consultation'," AIKSCC claimed.

The seventh round of talks between the protesting unions and three Central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of three laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new Acts for the growth of the country's agriculture sector.

ALSO READ: Undeterred by cold weather, rains, protesting farmers warn to intensify stir further

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said he remains hopeful of a solution in the next meeting on January 8, but asserted that efforts need to be made from both sides for a resolution to be reached (taali dono haathon se bajti hai).

While several opposition parties and people from other walks of life have come out in support of the farmers, some farmer groups have also met the agriculture minister over the last few weeks to extend their support to the three laws.

Last month, the government had sent a draft proposal to the protesting farmer unions, suggesting seven-eight amendments to the new laws and a written assurance on the MSP procurement system.

The government has ruled out a repeal of the three agri laws.

Over 2,500 farmers take out tractor march in Delhi against farm laws

Farmers started the tractor march around 11 am and moved towards Kundli, Manesar, Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel.

Farmers tractor march at KMP Rohtak crossing on ThFarmers tractor march at KMP Rohtak crossing on Thursday. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

Published: 07th January 2021 
By PTI

NEW DELHO: Amid tight security, thousands of farmers on Thursday started their tractor-march from protest sites -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders -- against the three agriculture laws.

Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys.

According to the protesting farm unions, this is just "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 tractor parade that will be move into the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Farmers started the tractor march around 11 am and moved towards Kundli, Manesar, Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel.

The tractor march, led by senior BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, moved towards Palwal.

"In the coming days, we will intensify our agitation against the three farm laws. Around 2,500 tractors from Haryana have participated in today's march. 

"We want to warn that if the government doesn't not accept our demands, farmers' protest will get intensified further," Abhimanyu Kohar, a senior member of Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, told PTI.

The tractor march started from four different points -- Singhu to Tikri Border, Tikri to Kundli, Ghazipur to Palwal and Rewasan to Palwal.

ALSO READ | Security increased along Delhi borders ahead of farmers' tractor rally 

Braving severe cold and sporadic rains, thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points for over 40 days, demanding repeal of farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops and other two issues.

The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of three laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new acts for the growth of the country's agriculture sector.

India farmer protests: Police fire tear gas in Republic Day clashes

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers protesting agricultural reforms have driven a convoy of tractors into New Delhi as the capital celebrates Republic Day with a military parade.

India's farmers stage mass protest on national holiday

Police in New Delhi fired tear gas at protesting farmers after they broke through barricades on Tuesday.

The on-going protests upped the ante during the country's national Republic Day military parade in the capital.

The scaled-down parade, which celebrates the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950, was overshadowed by the vast tractor rally.

DW Indian Correspondent Nimisha Jaiswal shared a video on Twitter of jubilant farmers after they broke through police lines, saying: "After tear gas and baton charges, farmers are exuberant as tractors, horses and crowds overrun the roads, and security forces leave the scene."

The protesters used cranes and ropes to pull down road blocks far from their approved marching route, forcing riot police to fall back, witnesses told Reuters.

A statement from the group of farmers unions explained that only one of the several protest parades had deviated from its pre-arranged route.

"Except for one group...our news is that all parades are happening on the pre-decided routes along with police," they said.

Why are farmers in India protesting?

Farmers have been protesting a new law which they say benefits large, private land grabbers over small local producers. Tens of thousands of angry protesters entered the outskirts of the city in a convoy of tractors earlier in the day.

"We want to show Modi our strength,'' Satpal Singh, a farmer who marched into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five, told AP.

"We will not surrender," he said.

Around half of India's 1.3 billion population works in agriculture and the on-going protests being carried out by some 150 landowning farmers represent one the biggest challenges to President Narendra Modi's government to date.

Onwards to New Delhi - A farmer's protest

"Modi will hear us now, he will have to hear us now," said Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from the agriculturally important northern state of Punjab, as he marched past the barricades.
Indian farmers in dire straits

More than half of India's farmers are in debt and more than 20,000 committed suicide in 2018 and 2019, according to official statistics.

Despite their weakening economic position — agriculture now makes up only 15% of the national economy — they represent a large voting bloc.

A series of talks have fallen flat as the farmers have consistently rejected any offer other than a complete repeal of the new law.

Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who campaigns for income equality for Indian farmers, said the protests were not just aimed at reforming the new law, but at "challenging the entire economic design of the country.''

"The anger that you see is compounded anger,'' Sharma said. "Inequality is growing in India and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked the income from the bottom to the top. The farmers are only demanding what is their right."

Opinion

What Christians can learn from Indian Sikh farmers’ desperate protests

The protesters’ cause and community have shown a way for people of all faiths to go forward in a post-pandemic world.  

Indian farmers participate in a tractor rally in a protest against new farm laws at Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, on Jan. 7, 2021. India’s top court temporarily put on hold the implementation of new agricultural laws and ordered the formation of an independent committee of experts to negotiate with farmers who have been protesting against the legislation. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

January 13, 2021

By 

Joseph D'Souza

(RNS) — For months, farmers in India have been

Almost immediately, farmers in Punjab, many of them Sikhs, began protesting locally, but in November, hundreds of thousands of farmers surrounded New Delhi in the largest mass protest India has seen in decades. Although these protests are largely leaderless, millions of farmers across the nation are united in their struggle for human dignity.

What can we learn from the protesters?

Humans have a right to a dignified livelihood. 

Globalization and the so-called market economy — which is built upon making money with money, not generating wealth with labor — have destroyed the livelihoods of numerous working-class people around the world. In India, globalization has wreaked havoc on the masses.

One effect has been to force Indian farming communities, which comprise 70% of India’s people, to grow nonessential crops for unsustainable compensation. In the state of Bihar, where the new agriculture laws were implemented, many farmers have become destitute. The dynamics that are starving farmers are also worsening India’s already dire water crisis.

Every person desires the right to dignified labor and compensation, the right to which was given to humanity by God, as recorded in Genesis:

And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ …The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Though human work eventually became corrupted by the sin of the first man and woman, work gives us a sense of worth and purpose. 

Indian farmers, created in the image of God, take pride in their profession. They know their work is neither a low kind of labor nor anything to be ashamed of. Their protests declare they will not be the servants of those who would try to take advantage of them.

Humans have a right to property. 

One of the most precious resources God has given humanity is land. Genesis makes clear that God placed the first people in a garden and not in a desert.

Yet, the new agriculture laws in India are propounded by a misplaced philosophy that holds that the ultimate value in life is profit, regardless of consequences and methods. India is not against global trade, but this toxic form of globalism negates the human right to property and home. 

Indian farmers protesting new agriculture laws hold a meeting at the Delhi-Haryana state border on Nov. 30, 2020. While trying to march toward New Delhi, the farmers, using their tractors, have cleared concrete blockades, walls of shipping containers and horizontally parked trucks after police had set them up as barricades and dug trenches on highways to block roads leading to the capital. (AP Photo/Rishi Lekhi)

Farmers in the state of Punjab are aware the agriculture laws will end up depriving them of the little land they have for farming and survival, even if it’s just a few acres. They know they will eventually have to lease their land to wealthy corporations, which will then produce what they want on the land and determine the prices the farmer will be paid, even as the companies sell their produce for higher prices in local and international markets. 

Many farmers across India bear an intolerable burden of loans, and hundreds of thousands are dying by suicide because they are unable to repay them. Their families become impoverished and other exploitation then begins to take place.

Human dignity demands doing away with racial, caste and religious divides. 

Many of the farmers who are protesting the agriculture laws are Sikhs living in Punjab. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in Punjab in the 15th century. Sikhs highly value their relationship with their holy book and their relationships with others.

Sikhs also believe people of all faiths have access to God and Sikhs are proponents of freedom of religion. They are against all forms of societal hierarchies. Although there are a significant number of Dalit Sikhs who are conscious of their low-caste status, there are not the same kind of atrocities, rapes and attacks against Dalit Sikh women as there are against other women in India. 

In images of the protests in the news and on social media, farmers of all faiths and castes can be seen joining together in their struggle. Many Sikh women who are farmers are now in the streets protesting alongside their husbands and others. Young girls are also on the roads in biting cold weather.

My heart aches for a similar expression of unity among Christians. Our tendency to fight among ourselves does not make our faith attractive. Do we really think our fights over nonessential doctrines of faith will mean anything in the kingdom of God or our love?

The Sikh “langar” meal is intended to bring people together. 

The Sikh practice of “langar” has also precipitated the most outstanding examples of charity and sustenance for the protesting farmers, whether they are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims or Christians, which has built a community around food to sustain the protesters.

Sikh men and women have made chapatis, pizzas and sweets on the streets to feed hundreds of thousands of protestors for free, with donations from Sikh villages and temples.

Originally a Persian word, “langar” translates as “an almshouse” or “a place for the poor and needy.” In the Sikh tradition, it refers to a community kitchen, where everyone in need is provided with food, irrespective of caste, class, religion and gender.

These acts of immense generosity are not lost on India’s people. This is not foreign-funded aid but personal contributions from neighbor to neighbor.

We Christians observe Communion without practicing the community meal. We should, like the protesters, be eating together as brothers and sisters.

As we see in Scripture, Jesus regularly ate meals with his disciples. Jesus instituted the Holy Communion around the Last Supper. After his ascension, believers continued to gather to break bread. It is the basis of our worship.

Perhaps it is time for us to rethink how we do church in the post-COVID-19 world. The pandemic has shown us the incredible needs of children, women and men, regardless of faith and caste. The post-COVID world has shown us the incredible need for human community, which digital communities cannot replace.

We have come through a tough year. May we learn from this great struggle for human dignity in India, and may this be the year where we strive to heal what has been broken.   

(The Most Rev. Joseph D’Souza is the founder of Dignity Freedom Network, archbishop of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India and president of the All India Christian Council. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Farmers' protests in India are not just about land rights. They're about our very identity

These protesters are defending their culture — and the issues they're fighting have global implications

CANADA IS HOME TO THE LARGEST SIKH DIASPORA OUTSIDE OF THE PUNJAB

Raji Aujla, Jagdeesh Mann · for CBC News Opinion · Posted: Dec 12, 2020 

Protesting farmers shout slogans as they clash with police while attempting to move toward Delhi, at the border between Delhi and Haryana state on Nov. 27. Thousands of farmers in India faced tear gas and baton charges from police after they resumed their march to the capital against new farming laws that they fear will give more power to corporations and reduce their earnings. (Altaf Qadri/The Associated Press)


This is an opinion column by Raji Aujla and Jagdeesh Mann, both Punjabi-Canadians who live in B.C. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Over the past couple of weeks, you may have come across news stories of farmers protesting in India or local support protests in other countries, including Canada.

The farmers, the majority of whom are Sikh, have been protesting legislation in India that deregulates agricultural markets and opens them to private corporations. The farmers fear these "reforms" will lead to the eventual elimination of government price protections, which in turn will push them off their ancestral farmlands.

As descendents of Punjabi-Canadian farmers, we support this protest because the consequences of these bills are far greater than the loss of land assets. They threaten the essence of our culture and identity.

Indian farmers escalate protest against new laws with countrywide strike

To understand why Punjabi identity and culture are rooted in the land, consider Raji's mother, Gurbakhash Kaur Aujla.

She was raised on her family's land near the Himalayan foothills, as her ancestors were before her. The matriarchs in Raji's family anchored large households and worked shoulder to shoulder with the men on the family's wheat and dairy farms. For them, owning and working the land was integral to living within a culture that holds self-reliance, independence and living in tune with nature in high esteem.

After Raji's mother married, she and her husband immigrated to Canada and, like many other Sikh migrants, carried on their farming traditions. They settled in the Okanagan Valley and helped revive B.C.'s flagging fruit-farming sector, tending to orchards that grew apples, cherries and pears.

Raji Aujla at her family’s apple orchard in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley. (Submitted by Raji Aujla)

These farming traditions are passed on to subsequent generations. Although I, Raji, left the farm shortly after high school, I regularly feel its absence, especially at the times of year when the seasons turn. It's a twinge that, I suspect, is similar to what my parents felt when they arrived in this country — a disconnection from the natural world where everything has its own place.

This rootedness to Earth runs deep in our homeland of Punjab, a lush, fertile, agrarian region intersected by five large river systems. Agriculture is more than a livelihood; it is the bedrock of the region's language, culture and, in our case, our religion.

Guru Nanak — the founder of Sikhism, which emerged from Punjab — tilled his own fields. Metaphors of cultivation, harvests and seasons breathe through every chapter of the Sikh scripture we follow. The coda to Japji Sahib (our morning prayer) contains a homage to nature: "Pavan Guru Pani Pita, Mata Dharat Mahat." This translates to: "Air is the teacher, water the father, and the earth is the great mother."

CBC EXPLAINSWhat's behind the farmers' protests that are blocking highways in India

Knowing this context is crucial to understanding the depth of anguish and desperation among the tens of thousands of farmers marching on India's capital, New Delhi.

Their sense of identity — economically and culturally — is at stake.

Households in the diaspora have been glued to the news, watching helplessly as this conflict unfolds. Okanagan farmers have reiterated how crucial the land is to their sense of self.

"Their attachment to their land is nothing less than a child's attachment to its mother," said the group that organized a recent rally in Penticton, B.C.

Even now, I, Raji, identify as a farmer's daughter before anything else, accountable to land, not politics. My favourite childhood memories include working alongside my paternal grandfather and my parents during the autumn harvest.

Gurbakhash Kaur Aujla, right, and her daughter, Raji Aujla, come from a long line of farmers in both India and Canada. (Submitted by Raji Aujla)

So our hearts break when we see Sikh elders — seniors like Raji's grandfather — being attacked with water cannons, tear gas and batons while protesting peacefully in India.

These elders are the freedom riders of this protest, with little to gain personally but with everything to give to the next generation: their plots, their traditions, their humility and their centuries-old way of life that was bestowed upon them.

Hundreds of vehicles join Surrey convoy in solidarity with Indian farmers

This standoff between family farmers and multinationals in India is also a standoff between diversity and monoculture, between living locally and living unsustainably.

Our country has long protected its agricultural sector and in doing so protects its local economy. So, when you scroll social media feeds and see videos of the turmoil in India, know that this isn't a local and distant squabble. It's a global issue extending to Canadians as well.

We consume the benefits of these farmers' labour, from the cotton of our crewnecks to the spices in our lattes. Turmeric, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, black pepper, pomegranates — we have Indian farmers to thank for this supply.

This land is at the heart of Punjab's culture, and without it, Punjab's traditions are imperilled. There is no "market price" that any corporation could ever offer to adequately square the demise of these or any other family farming traditions.

Protesters gather outside India’s consulate in Vancouver on Dec. 2 to protest the proposed regulations affecting farmers in India. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Do you have a strong opinion that could change how people think about an issue? A personal story that can educate or help others? We want to hear from you.

CBC Vancouver is looking for British Columbians who want to write 500-600-word opinion and point of view pieces. Send us a pitch at bcvoices@cbc.ca and we'll be in touch.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Raji Aujla  is the founder of Willendorf Cultural Planning and Newest Magazine, focusing on better representation and inclusion of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour voices in Canadian arts, media, and culture. Follow her on Twitter: @goodbeti.