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Farmers’ tractor rally deferred to Thursday
Tens of thousands of protesting farmers will take out a tractor march on January 7, deferring it by a day because of wintry and wet weather conditions, to converge
Tens of thousands of protesting farmers will take out a tractor march on January 7, deferring it by a day because of wintry and wet weather conditions, to converge on the Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway, leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a platform of farm unions, said on Tuesday.
At a press conference, leaders of farm unions said they would be coordinating the month-long protests spelt out in a fresh agitation agenda spanning 15 days from January 7, which includes picketing Raj Bhavans, onward marches from six blockade sites on Delhi’s borders and a tractor march “rehearsal” for Republic Day.
“The change in the schedule, deferred by a day, is only because of weather conditions. After January 9, farmers will campaign in every village to ready themselves to drive their tractors into Delhi on January 26,” Yogendra Yadav, a senior leader of the agitation, said.
Joginder Singh Nain, who leads the Nain faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said the contingent from Haryana would be led by women farmers.
Farm unions have launched one of the largest strikes in decades to demand that the Centre revoke the three contentious laws approved by Parliament in September.
The laws 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.
Together, the laws will allow big corporations and global supermarket chains to buy directly from farmers, bypassing decades-old regulations.
Farmers say the reforms will make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations, erode their bargaining power and weaken the government’s procurement system, whereby the government buys staples, such as wheat and rice, at guaranteed prices.
“Tractors from all neighbouring states will begin rolling into Delhi. We will continue with our blockade of goods and services of {Mukesh} Ambani (Reliance Industries Limited ) and {Gautam} Adani (Adani Enterprises Limited), including their products, malls and petrol pumps owned by them,” Darshan Pal, a senior farm union leader said.
The leaders slammed what they called the government’s propaganda. “The government doesn’t want to withdraw the laws because it has become an ego issue for them. They have tried tarnish our agitation in countless ways, sometimes calling us Maoists and Khalistani {a reference to Sikh separatists},” Balbir Singh Rajewal of the Bharatiya Kisan Union said
In a widely anticipated sixth round of talks between the Union government and protesting farm unions on December 30, the Modi administration agreed to spare farmers from heavy fines for crop-residue burning, as provided for in an anti-pollution ordinance, and continue the current mechanism of giving subsidised power for agricultural use, as demanded by farmers.
The seventh round of talks on January 4, however, ended in a stalemate as the government did not accede to the farmers’ demand to repeal the three agricultural laws.
