DSR will render farm labourers jobless, say unions; demand govt to step in

The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), which is known for saving water, during the paddy sowing season that starts from May 20.

DSR technique is direct seeding of rice, which dictates that rice seeds are sown in the field directly rather than transplanting seedlings. A tractor powered machine is used to drill the seeds in to the soil, reducing manual intervention to a minimal.

There is no nursery preparation in DSR technique.

On Monday, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union (PKMU) president, Zora Singh Nasrali, said,”Instead of focusing only on DSR method to save ground water, the Punjab government should focus its attention on water intensive crops like cotton, maize and assure farmers that these will be bought at MSP. This will help take care of both farm labourers as well as ground water.”

Lachhman Singh Sewewala , general secretary of PKMU, added, “The government’s focus should be on increasing the area under paddy. This can also solve the issue of ground water, while ensuring that labourers are not deprived of their earnings. At the very least, the government should have increased the number of days of guranteed employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). But the government doesn’t seem to care in the least about labourers, who will become jobless. Taking care of groundwater is important, but at the same time ensuring people are employed is also important. Daily wagers should not be targeted.”

He added,”In villages across Punjab, landlords already are fixing rates of paddy transplantation at Rs 3500 per acre and have issued diktats that anyone asking for more will not be allowed to enter their fields. It is time that government spoke out for the sake of Dalits.”

Interestingly, farm labourers in various Punjab villages have also started passing resolutions stating that they will accept nothing less than Rs 5,000-6,000 per acre for paddy transplantation this time as farmers had doubled their rates of wheat straw from Rs 2000 per trolley to Rs 4000 per trolley. The rising inflation was another reason given by farm labourers to ask for more money for growing paddy this year.

PKMU general secretary, Sewewala, added, “Many labourers have also passed resolutions stating that they will not let migrant labour enter villages. This situation needs to be resolved at the earliest or it may lead to a clash like situation in villages. The government should act before something untoward happens as a lot of discontentment is brewing among farm labourers.”

Pakka dharna in Chandigarh from today

Meanwhile, at least 23 farmer unions of Punjab have decided to take their tractors, bikes, cars and other vehicles and march towards Chandigarh on Tuesday morning to launch a pakka dharna against the AAP government for not being compensated for their low yield of wheat crops this year and other demands. The farmers said they are disgruntled as a number of their demands — like Centre taking away control of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) from Punjab, PR 126 variety seeds not being available in the market, limited power supply for paddy sowing and delayed release of canal water in areas where groundwater is unfit for irrigation purposes.

Dr Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union and a member of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, said,”The AAP government had called for a meeting of farmer unions initially to discuss the issues but later backed out. So, we will launch a pakka dharna against them at Chandigarh from Tuesday.”

Farmer union leaders stated that they expect to be stopped by the police en route, and hence were prepared to launch their dharna at whatever place they are stopped.