From Majnu ka Tila to Sarai Kale Khan, farmers began their march to Ramlila Maidan, Thursday. (Amit Mehra)Demanding a special three-week long Parliament session to discuss the agrarian crisis, thousands of farmers from across the country marched through the streets of Delhi during the two-day Kisan Mukti March starting Thursday.
The march was held under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a coalition of 200-plus organisations formed in the wake of the Mandsaur firing that killed six farmers in June 2017.
The demand for the special session is aimed at ensuring passage of legislations for increased minimum support price and loan waivers. The two private member Bills drafted by the AIKSCC— the Freedom from Indebtness Bill and The Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill — were introduced by MPs Raju Shetti and KK Ragesh in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively during the last session.
Farmers’ groups have also called for the enforcement of the MS Swaminathan Commission report, which primarily recommended that MSP be set at 1.5 times the comprehensive cost of production.
P Sainath, Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, who was part of the march, said the two Bills are only the first steps and “not a comprehensive closure of the agrarian crisis”. “You cannot resolve the agrarian crisis if you don’t engage with the rights… of those who do the greatest amount of work in agriculture, which is mahila kisan. What also needs to be addressed are the issues of tenant farmers, who are unbelievably exploited and vulnerable; land rights of Dalit kisan; forest rights of Adivasi kisan…,” he said.
Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, which is also a part of AIKSCC, said: “If the Bills are not passed now, there is no hope.” He added that 21 political parties have already expressed their support for the Bills. The AIKSCC pointed out that the crisis has led to over to 3 lakh farmer suicides between 1995-2016, as per National Crimes Records Bureau data. Khandubhau Wakchaware (69), a farmer from drought-hit Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, who grows onions and cattle fodder on his 1.5-acre farm, said that due to lack of rainfall since July-end, both his produce and selling price have fallen drastically.
Having walked for six days during the Nashik-Mumbai march, Wakchaware has come to Delhi to press for implementation of Swaminathan Commission report: “This will benefit both farmers and consumers. We get Rs 20 for a litre of milk while consumers are charged Rs 42. The entire profit goes to the middlemen.” Several women also took part in the march to demand the reintroduction of The Women Farmers’ Entitlements Bill, 2011.
