‘Cannot treat farmers like criminals’: Bharat Ratna awardee MS Swaminathan's daughter
Madhura Swaminathan said to continue honouring MS Swaminathan, farmers need to be taken along.
Developmental Economist and daughter of agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, Madhura Swaminathan said on Tuesday that Indian farmers are “our annadatas” and cannot be treated like criminals as she referred to the Haryana government's response to farmers' protest.
Speaking at an event organised by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi's Pusa to celebrate the conferment of Bharat Ratna to her father posthumously, Madhura said that to continue honouring MS Swaminathan, farmers need to be taken along.
“The farmers of Punjab today are marching to Delhi. I believe, according to the newspaper reports, there are jails being prepared for them in Haryana, there are barricades, there are all kinds of things being done to prevent them. These are farmers, they are not criminals.”
Following inconclusive discussions with a team of union ministers, farmers embarked on a march towards Delhi on Tuesday. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha declared the farmers' determination to proceed to Delhi, escalating their efforts to urge the Centre to address their grievances.
Analysis: A national MSP law will be a tribute to MS Swaminathan
The farmers' demands encompass various issues, including a legal assurance for minimum support price (MSP), implementation of recommendations from the Swaminathan Commission, provision of pensions for farmers and farm labourers, forgiving of agricultural debts, resolution of police cases, justice for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, restoration of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, withdrawal from the World Trade Organization, compensation for families of deceased farmers from previous protests, and more.
She added, “I request all of you, the leading scientists of India, we have to talk to our annadatas, we cannot treat them as criminals. We have to find solutions. This is my request. I think if we have to continue and honour M S Swaminathan we have to take the farmers with us in whatever strategy we’re planning for the future.”
Madhura is the head of the Economic Analysis Unit at Bengaluru's Indian Statistical Institute.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Madhura shared a statement released by MS Swaminathan from November 2021, where he expressed happiness over the Union government's decision to repeal its three contentious farm laws.
Follow Farmers Protest LIVE Updates Here.
MS Swaminathan, who is widely regarded as the architect of the Green Revolution in India, passed away at the age of 98 in September 2023.
The statement read, “I am happy with the announcement today. I emphasize that C2+50% is the core of the reports of the National Commission on Farmers. The future of our agriculture depends on the impact we can make on three fronts: production, procurement and prices. These should be attended to concurrently.”
According to former IARI director R B Singh, M S Swaminathan formulated the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and strongly advocated for its implementation. Remembering his tenure alongside M S Swaminathan, Singh said, “Policies on agriculture are many but policy on farmers, the person behind the plow, was nowhere… the Swaminathan Commission had strongly suggested the adoption of Minimum Support Price… A pro-poor, pro-women and pro-nature approach, Dr Swaminathan strongly believed that if our farm women and men are assisted on the lines proposed in the policy, they will ensure a glorious future in agriculture and in food and nutrition security.”
MS Swaminathan another daughter and WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan also spoke at the event.