15,000 tractors, 170 km: All you need to know about the farmers' tractor rally

According to the Delhi police estimates, about 15,000 tractors are present at the three border points and more are expected to trickle in.

Marking a symbolic protest against the three contentious farm laws, thousands of farmers will enter the national capital on the country's 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday after camping on Delhi's border for nearly two months now.

Farmers sitting in a tractor trolly during their protest against farm law, at Singhu Border in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI Photo)

Farmer leaders said the tractor parade will remain peaceful will not affect the official Republic Day parade in any way.

With barely 36 hours to go, the plans for the tractor rally have been set in motion on Sunday after Delhi Police granted formal approval to the agitating farmers by stamping certain restrictions.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping at Delhi's borders for several weeks in bitter cold, demanding the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.

Here is all you need to know about the upcoming Tractor Rally by farmers:

• The Delhi Police has approved total routes spanning up to about 170 km, of which over 100 km will fall in Delhi.
• The farmers' tractor rally will begin after the Republic Day parade ends on Tuesday morning. However, there is no clarity on when the farmers tractor rally is likely to end.
• According to the Delhi police estimates, about 15,000 tractors are present at the three border points and more are expected to trickle in.
• The final nod from Delhi police comes after six marathon meetings between police and farmers in the last few days.
• More batches of farmers from Punjab on Sunday set out for Delhi to participate in the proposed tractor parade on January 26. A batch of 500 tractors-trolleys left Amritsar and several groups of growers from Phagwara, Hoshiarpur and other places of Punjab moved towards the national capital to take part of the tractor parade, farmer leaders said.
• During the journey till Delhi borders, arrangements for 'langar' have been made at several places on the national highway, farmer leaders said.
• The Republic Day tractor parade by agitating farmers will feature a number of tableaux from across states depicting village life, the protest against the Centre's contentious farm laws, and hailing their courage, according to organisers. A farmer leader told PTI that directions were issued to all organisations participating in the protest to prepare tableaux for the parade.
• A few children from Maharashtra's Vidarbha region have also planned a tableau on farmer suicides, news agency PTI reported.
• A war room has been set up at each protest site to ensure effective coordination during the parade. There will 40 members, including doctors, security personnel and social media managers, in each of these rooms, the SKM member said.
• Around 40 ambulances will be stationed along the route to attend to any medical emergency.
• Another farmer leader said around 2,500 volunteers have been deployed to ensure that the parade remains peaceful and no untoward incident takes place. The volunteers have been given badges and identity cards.
• Farmer leaders said only five people will be allowed on a tractor and strict vigil is being maintained to thwart any criminal activity.

Why are the farmers protesting:

The protests - longest such demonstration in decades of independent India - will soon enter their third month and show no signs of abating as the farmers have refused to halt them. They are protesting against the three farm laws passed by Parliament in September which essentially change the way India’s farmers do business by creating free markets, as opposed to a network of decades-old, government marketplaces, allowing traders to stockpile essential commodities for future sales and laying down a national framework for contract farming.

These laws are 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 farmers claim these laws will benefit big corporate houses. The government has, however, tried to allay these fears and even said that it is ready to discuss changes to the law. The government has made it clear that it won’t scrap these laws.