Farmers Hold National Convention, Announce Bharat Bandh on September 25
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SKM Announces Bharat Bandh on September 25
Sabrangindia
The two-day long All India Farmers Convention concluded with a call for Bharat Bandh on September 25, 2021 to expand and intensify its agitation to every village and corner. Accordingly, leaders appealed to farmers to show up for a massive protest rally at Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on September 5.
As the farmers’ struggle nears to completing a full year of protest outside national capital borders, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) resolved to strengthen the agitation afresh. As many as 2,000 odd delegates attending the two-day convention on August 26 and August 27 raised slogans calling for the repeal of the three famr laws, a legal guarantee of MSP and the repeal of the new Electricity Bill and clauses against farmers in the name of Air Quality in NCR, New Delhi.
Trade union leaders, youth groups, women organisations, tribal leaders and others at the event also passed resolutions against recent communal attacks on minorities and the privatisation of India’s public sector.
Summing up the views expressed in the Convention, Organising Committee Convenor Dr Ashish Mital said, “It is quite obvious that the entire farming community is forced to fight a government serving corporates and MNCs for control over all aspects of agriculture, food storage and marketing. The changes being instituted will lead to widespread increase in farmer debts, suicides and displacement from land.”
He warned that like agriculture other assets meant to ensure employment and security like Railways, Power Transmission lines, Natural gas resources, Telecom projects, food storage, Insurance, Banks are also in danger.
“There is an attack on the basic rights of industrial workers through the four labour codes. Welfare and service sector for the poor, particularly subsidies and the PDS are under target. Prices of essential items, particularly fuel, are being raised steeply,” said SKM leader Darshan Pal.
On top of discussing farmers’ four major demands, delegates called upon farmers to form state-level and district-level SKM units with the help of supporting organizations. This will help in organising conventions, rallies, oppose toll extractions and protests against BJP and NDA leaders for refusing to accept farmers’ demands.
The Convention concluded that all proposals of changes to ‘solve’ the issue, advanced by the central government, provide no relief to farmers’ apprehensions of corporate takeover of agriculture and loss of land and livelihood.
It exhorted farmers to continue peaceful protests and commended the movement for uniting people across religions, castes and regions.
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Editorial addition: Another article in SabrangIndia gives a summary of the resolutions passed at the National Convention:
Peasant leaders and marginalised groups passed various resolutions relating to the three farm laws, the legal guarantee to MSP, the Electricity Bill 2021 and the Commission of Air Quality Management (AQM) in NCR and Neighbouring Areas Act among other points of discussion during the National Convention.
Resolution on Contract Farming Act
Delegates of various farming, trade union, youth, women’s and Dalit groups came together to understand how the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act will compel Indian farmers to sign unfair contracts with big corporates. The big companies will force farmers to grow commercial crops and strip them of the freedom to grow food crops.
“It will force them to buy costly inputs and mechanised farm services sold by contracting companies. Farmers will have to engage in separate agreements with debt institutions for money by mortgaging land and other assets,” said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM).
Further, farmer leaders said the law will establish a series of middlemen to supervise fulfilment of contract conditions and shift cropping patterns in entire districts or its parts as per allotment to companies.
Resolution on mandi bypass law
From the beginning, farmers voiced concern about how the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act will allow private corporations to get powerful middlemen, agriculture cooperative societies to establish electronic trading platforms and offer the lowest prevailing online rates.
“It will deny any purchase at the MSP declared by governments. Corporations will be free to procure and hoard food crops. The government will promote these ‘alternate’ channels of trade, meaning thereby that it will not support the government mandis and procurement at MSP rates,” said the SKM.
Farmers worry that private mandis will dominate the trade and allow corporations to set the benchmark for high rates of inputs and services and low rates for crops. This will allow businesses to control the entire food chain from crop purchase, storage, transport, processing and marketing of packed and processed foods.
Resolution on the ECAA
The SKM said the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act appalled farmers by removing crucial food grains from the list of essential items. This means that prices of cereals, pulses and oilseeds can be increased by 1.5 – 2 times each year.
“With no government procurement, supply of food grains in the Public Distribution System (PDS) will stop, which as per WTO conditions has already been on the cards. It will allow unlimited stocking and black marketing of food by multinational and Indian food corporations,” said the SKM.
Resolution on other laws
Along with previous laws, farmers also talked about the new Electricity Bill 2021 and the Commission of Air Quality law for NCR and adjacent areas that penalised farmers for stubble burning. Farmers said the Electricity Bill withdraws subsidised energy supply for agriculture and rural households. This threatens to more than double electricity rates and will allow charging of commercial rates for household businesses.
Similarly, the air quality law lives a heavy fiscal blow on farmers by imposing heavy fines and imprisoning them for “causing pollution”. Farmer leaders criticised this clause and said stubble burning has a miniscule role in NCR’s air quality.
Resolution on legal guarantee for MSP
The House considered the issue of legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all agriculture produce C2+50 percent. It said that the Centre should bring down prices of inputs and services, correctly evaluate the cost of production using farmer inputs, declare the aforementioned MSP, regulate its export-import and other policies and provide for procurement of all crops that sell below MSP.
In response to the Centre’s previous proposals, the SKM said, “All proposals of the government to make changes in these laws provide no answer or relief to farmers’ apprehensions of corporate takeover of agriculture production, processes and markets; to their suffering by loss of land and livelihood; to the damage caused to India’s environment, ecology and biodiversity.”
Session on Industrial workers and Trade Union struggles
Leaders present at the convention also focussed on the four labour codes imposed on India’s workforce. The codes undermine the rights of industrial workers.
“It has driven severe increases in prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and fertilizers amongst others. It moves to withdraw PDS rations and convert it into a cash transfer scheme. We support all struggles of the people on these issues,” said the SKM.
More than 100 delegates of the AIKS, AIAWU, CITU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI from various states participated in this national convention.
Session on agriculture workers, rural poor and tribals
Similarly, farmers mourned the forced displacement of tribals from their indigenous land. Tribal farmers are forced to hand over forest and mineral resources, said farmer leaders. Members also condemned the Centre for failing to implement the Forest Rights Act 2006 or the MNREGA.
Delegates pointed out that the Centre also failed to implement the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 that caters to the rehabilitated, resettled people.
Session on women, students, youth
Women leaders present at the event talked about the increased attacks on women and their democratic rights and freedom during the BJP party’s rule. Members said the regime encourages regressive manuvadi or patriarchal and capitalist forces in society, while withdrawing from its social responsibilities towards the underprivileged. People also condemned government efforts to privatise health and education, distancing it from the reach of the poor.
Resolution on Communalism
Along with a manuvadi mindset, delegates criticised attacks on minorities that created a communal strife to remain in power. They alleged the regime was making desperate efforts to vitiate communal harmony and democratic fabric of the country.
“This communal polarization by RSS- BJP is a serious violation of the Preamble of our Constitution which is secular and democratic. This Convention pledges to unitely fight the communal design of these anti people, communal forces,” said the SKM.
Resolution on Privatization
The gathering collectively condemned the attempts to privatise several public sector undertakings and government assets to big companies. These include railways, power sector, natural gas resources, telecom projects, food storage, insurance, banks and other valuable assets.
“These are the property of the people of India and have been built with their efforts and their money. This will lead to a massive rise in unemployment. The RSS-BJP is continuing on its path of service to Corporate and MNCs while attacking the people. This Convention pledges itself to supporting all struggles against this Corporatization of India’s natural resources and public sector wealth,” said the SKM.
(Courtesy: SabrangIndia.)
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Muzaffarnagar Farmer Rally: Mass Catharsis of Rural Dissent
Indra Shekhar Singh
05 Sep 2021: The frequent spells of rain have not dampened the festive spirit at the well-known GIC Ground in Muzaffarnagar. Here, in the heart of the sugarcane-growing belt of western Uttar Pradesh, instead of farmers on bullock-carts, carpenters have been running around all week long. They are erecting poles and platforms, as electricians check and re-check the wiring for the sound systems. Preparations for the Kisan Mahapanchyat (farmer assembly) scheduled on 5 September are all but over. Hundreds of volunteers are making last-minute adjustments for a grand stage, hundreds of langars, medical camps and shelters.
The workers have turned the ground into a tiny township, ready to host 40 Samyukta Morcha (SKM) leaders and traditional khap chiefs, along with farm leaders from at least 20 states and, naturally, lakhs of farmers. On Sunday, there will be singing and cheering, and a few vocalists will raise slogans of solidarity among farmers in between the fiery speeches by their leaders.
The coordination committee of the SKM has prepared for the best scenario while considering the worst-case too—excessive rainfall, police violence, tear-gas, lathi-charge… Accordingly, it has rehearsed a contingency plan for all eventualities. The organisers say this rally will draw massive attendance; perhaps even five lakh of the peasantry will show up. Only a few of the older farmers would have memories long enough to remember the rousing farmer movements of the 1980s which drew such crowds.
The rally in Muzaffarnagar is a renewed attempt by farmers to demonstrate that they have not given up on their demands. Instead, the propaganda and pushback have only firmed their resolve. The SKM, which has been leading protests at the Delhi border since November last year, called for “Mission Uttar Pradesh” to illustrate the growing solidarity among farmers. It wants agricultural issues to sit at the top of the pile of political questions in India.
The aim of the Muzaffarnagar event is also to expose the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s pro-farm bills propaganda for what it is. It will testify to the emerging new coalition of farmers and social movements that have shaped up over the last year. It is almost certain that the farmers will impact the electoral fortunes of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. After all, 5 September is not a show in itself. It will kickstart a statewide campaign to discuss, debate, and firm up plans to oppose the government’s anti-farmer stance.
Nor is this mahapanchayat just an Uttar Pradesh affair. Delegates from at least 20 states, including regional farm unions and organisations, are participating. It is both a peaceful show of strength and evidence of a rudimentary all-India farmers’ political unity in the making. After months of aggressive campaigns across the country, farm leaders and the peasantry have managed to sow the idea that repealing these laws and guaranteed MSP is necessary, not a vain demand.
Remember that last year, the farmers of Uttar Pradesh were not the first to join the anti-farm law protests. They followed the Punjab and Haryana uprising. However, over time, the influential Jat farming community began leading the agitation in western Uttar Pradesh. This rally will be a test of whether other social groups and non-farmers have joined hands with them. It is what makes the Muzaffarnagar gathering a meaningful moment in the farmer’s agitation.
Why should ordinary Indians concern themselves about what a “handful of farmers” are doing? More than 30% of the population is food insecure or under-fed in India. More than half the children are stunted and underweight. The middle-class is economically exhausted by the lockdowns imposed to slow the spread of Covid-19. Even healthcare costs are through the roof, as witnessed during the pandemic. For all these reasons, rural and agricultural issues matter to every Indian. Further, the collective memory of corporate-driven famines should alert all citizens to the risks posed by the farm laws.
Along with these laws, the government withdrew most limits on stocking food items. This decision has reminded farmers, the underprivileged and the middle classes of the 2015 pulses scam. It has added a bitter taste to the ongoing rise in edible oil, tomato and onion prices. All these price scams and manipulations demonstrate why the same crime—hoarding—is victimising farmers and consumers at the same time. The farmers are fighting against corporate tyranny but also for their right to land and livelihood. There are lessons here for everyone.
Citizens and political parties should consider whether a government can hand over food production to foreign-owned companies, as the new laws propose. Should everything from seeds to supermarkets be in foreign hands? It is not a too-alarmist scenario, considering the experiences of farmers and consumers in the USA and Brazil. From suicides to falling incomes and growing indebtedness, farmers are traumatised under corporate-controlled “free markets”. Fed by the corporate food system, consumers are no better off.
Thousands of people have decided to gather for their cause during the pandemic because they have lost faith that the governments will hear their cries. The recent instances of violence at the Karnal toll gates in Haryana have inflamed farmers. Administrative apathy towards their complaints has incensed them too. Farmers in the North are deeply shocked by police repression of protests and criminal and other cases filed against farmers. More are likely to gravitate towards the SKM. The rally in Muzaffarnagar will be a mass catharsis of rural dissent. The farmers are screaming their anger over the neglect of their legitimate demands.
The bigger the rally on 5 September is, the greater the chances of the government re-starting talks to placate them. The top demand of the farmers is to make MSP a legal right across a variety of crops. Either way, this meeting is a litmus test for the Modi government and a chance for concerned citizens to witness a social movement in action.
The Centre can avert a crisis and rebuild its image among farmers if it holds talks with them. However, it will need to bid farewell to its corporate friends, who are keen on agribusiness. So far, the farmers have survived one challenge after another, but Muzaffarnagar is about sending the message to all of Uttar Pradesh that the farmer’s fight is everybody’s fight. They have stood their ground and gained respect globally. If not for the love of the country, the love of truth should have us all tune into the buzz at Muzaffarnagar.
(Extract. Indra Shekhar Singh is an independent policy analyst and writer on agriculture and the environment. Courtesy: Newsclick.)
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‘Smash the Skulls’ Can’t Crush a Movement: BJP Must Realise Farmers Won’t Quit
Aditya Menon
The blood soaked kurta of a protesting farmer in Karnal, bloodstains on the yellow ‘Shaheed Bhagat Singh’ badge pinned on it. The farmer, standing resolute, despite being hit on the head with lathis by the Haryana police.
A junior bureaucrat, barely four years into his service, ordering the police to “smash the skulls” of protesting farmers, many of whom are old enough to be his grandfather.
These images will haunt both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for some time.
As all this unfolded in Karnal on Saturday, 28 August, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the renovated memorial for Jallianwala Bagh.
Even as PM Modi paid tribute to the victims of colonial police brutality a century ago, the police in a state ruled by his party attacked protesting farmers with lathis after being ordered to “smash their skulls”.
The irony, too, won’t be forgotten in a hurry…. What happened in Karnal, could (also) drive the next phase of the protest.
The aftermath of Karnal
Soon after the police action in Karnal, farmers began protesting the arrest of their comrades and demanded that they be released. They have also sought action against the bureaucrat, Ayush Sinha.
The arrested farmers were released. CM Khattar has also said that Sinha’s orders would be inquired into. However, many protesters say that the junior bureaucrat would never have been able to give such orders without the backing of the state government.
In the coming week, the theater of confrontation between the government and the protesting farmers will now shift to the poll bound state of Uttar Pradesh. On 5 September, the farmers have called a Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar.
What happens next?
The BJP would want the Mahapanchayat to be a flop. The last thing it wants is Jats consolidating against it in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. If that happens, it would undo years of work by the BJP in bringing the Jats of West UP into its fold.
As things stand today, Jats are angry against the BJP and so far seem to be shifting away from it.
On the other hand, efforts are on through figures like Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati to communalise West UP once again. A few weeks ago, Hindutva outfits conducted a drive to prevent Muslims from applying ‘Mehendi‘ on Hindu women on a festival.
Several other efforts are underway to increase communal temperatures in the region.
So far, Jats don’t seem to have wavered from their intention of voting against the BJP and the main beneficiary of this could be the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
The RLD’s efforts to revive agrarian politics in the region could pay off, after years of being in vain.
The other major consequence of the Karnal police crackdown would be greater support of Opposition leaders for the protests. Already, top Opposition leaders like Sharad Pawar have condemned the police attack on protesters. This support is only going to get stronger in the near future.
(Extract. Courtesy: The Quint)
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Adani in the Eye of the Storm as Himachal Apple Prices Crash
The main argument of those rallying behind the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s controversial farm laws; that the free market economy will reward farmers, faces a major dent in the wake of the crashing market price of the apple crop in Himachal Pradesh.
The Rs 5,000 crore apple business in the hilly state, which mostly runs on the free market model, was dealt a major setback right at the beginning of the season when the Adani group, a big corporate buyer in Himachal Pradesh’s apple market, announced its opening price for A-grade, premium quality apples at just Rs 72 per kg, much lower than the Rs 88 per kg it offered last year.
This led to a disruption in the whole market, with apple growers slamming the corporate giant for the price crash and the consequent skewed income to the growers.
Adani properties are already under siege in Punjab and Haryana due to protests by farmers who blame the big corporates – and their tendency to monopolise the agriculture market – for the controversial farm laws. Now in Himachal, where trade is open, apple growers say Adani’s functioning is proving detrimental for them.
Dimple Panjta, president of The Himalayan Society For Horticulture and Agriculture Development, a Rohru-based NGO consisting of a large number of apple growers, told The Wire that in 2011, Adani bought A-grade quality apples at Rs 65 per kg. A decade later, it is offering just Rs 7 more.
“Is this what we really deserve,” asked Panjta. “While our farm inputs expenses have gone up manifold, the company brought in by the government to help farmers in getting good market rates is resorting to exploitation of farmers by continuously reducing procurement rates.”
According to him, a decade earlier, the cost of production for the growers, inclusive of packaging costs, was Rs 250 per box. Now it has gone up to Rs 600 per box. “But see the returns, it is [the] same [as] a decade earlier,” he added.
Panjta said the problem with the Adani group is that it carries a lot of weight in the apple market. Even though it buys no more than nine or ten lakh boxes every season (every box has 25 kg of apples) – which is not more than 3-4% of the state’s total apple production – Adani’s offer price somehow sets a benchmark for the rest of the market. This is what destabilises the rates.
“Traders often say when Adani is buying at ‘X’ rate, why should they [the traders] pay more?” said Panjta.
He said, moreover, that Adani plays it smart with its offer rate. Its offer price is for the premium quality of the apple and pays quite less for medium and small size of apple. Further, if the apples are discoloured, the rates are far less than farmers’ production costs. Now that It has fixed the rate of Rs 72 per kg for A-grade apple, the average earning of an apple grower, if they supply to Adani, will not be more than Rs 50 per kg.
“On the other hand, there is clear evidence that apples procured by the company at a cheap rate from the farmers are sold in the retail market for Rs 250-300 per kg in off season. But farmers don’t have the luxury to hold back the produce and wait for the day when the rates go up in the retail market. We are under compulsion to sell our crop soon after the harvesting,” he added
“From reliable sources, our NGO has come to know that the Adani group, which was given land at a token price to set up three cold storage centres in Rampur, Rohru and Sainj in Shimla District, is violating land lease rules. Under the rules, they must leave 25% [of the] space in their cold stores for the Himachal growers, which we firmly believe is not [being] complied with. We have written a letter to the chief minister to inquire about it and make the findings public,” he said.
‘What was the use of providing subsidised land to Adani?’
Lokinder Bisht, president of the Progressive Growers Association, told The Wire that Adani was given the land to set up its cold stores at subsidised rates, but he questioned what good it did for the growers ultimately.
He said that before Adani announced its rate, the premium A-grade apple was being sold for Rs 80-90 per kg, at over Rs 2,000 per box. But the price crashed soon after Adani’s Rs 72 per kg announcement.
“Keep aside its commitment towards [the] welfare of Himachal’s apple industry in lieu of subsidised government land, where is the company’s corporate social responsibility anyway? They should ideally announce rates more than the prevailing market rates but for them, their profit is supreme [to] the growers interests,” he said.
Adani’s Rs 72 per kg rates are for big apples with 100% colour. For small and medium apples, their rate is less than Rs 60 per kg. At their rates, produce of less than 60% colour is sold between Rs 12-15 per kg, whereas farmers’ cost of production is more than Rs 25-30 per kg.
“In any apple orchard, premium quality apples are only one third of the whole production. This means that we are earning very less for [the] remaining produce,” Bisht said.
Bisht said, instead of incentivising big corporates, the state government should instead give incentives to growers to set up small-volume cold stores so that they can control the supply chain whenever there is a glut in the market and the prices crash, saving growers from heavy losses.
The majority of the other apple growing societies have also expressed similar disappointments.
Harish Chauhan, president of the Apple, Vegetable and Flower Growers’ Association, said that when big corporate companies deliberately create a price slump in the market, what options do small and marginal growers have? They don’t have the capacity to hold back their produce. So they are forced to sell at whatever rates the market forces decide.
“[The] majority of the apple producers in Himachal Pradesh are not large farmers and every year, they are vulnerable to market forces, with little help [coming] from the government to intervene in price stabilisation,” he said.
Manjeet Shilu, plant head of the Adani Controlled Atmosphere (CA) store in Bithal, refused to talk to The Wire when contacted.
However, in his statement in the Tribune on August 24, he claimed that the prices offered by the company were good, especially considering the fact that growers do not have to pay for packing and grading.
“We have a pool of around 17,000 growers who give us apples. We hold discussions with them before fixing the prices to get a sense of what they are expecting,” said Shilu. “And since we have announced the prices, we have not received even a single call from farmers to complain about the rates. Only those growers are complaining who never give apples to Adani stores,” he said.
Insufficient govt-run cold stores
According to Rajesh Dhanda, general secretary of the Himalayan Apple Growers Society, apple growers don’t have the capacity to hold back the produce and wait for the price to rise further due to insufficient cold storage infrastructure.
There are very few government-run cold stores in Himachal right now and they are often packed to full capacity. This forces apple growers to sell their produce soon after the harvest, Dhanda told The Wire.
If the government wants to help growers increase their incomes, they must set up at least one cold store with the capacity of 2,000-3,000 metric tons in every belt where a minimum of 5 lakh boxes are produced.
“If the state can give subsid[ies] to Adani to set up cold storages, why it can’t give subsidised land to the apple growers by making their cooperative societies and [letting] them build storage houses on their own investment,” Dhanda added.
He said the state never thinks twice before allocating land for hydro projects, universities and even Baba Ram Dev’s society but welfare of apple growers is hardly ever on the government’s agenda.
“Our major demand from the state government is that it must bring favourable policies that promote cooperative culture [rather] than the corporate monopoly,” he added.
(Extract. Courtesy: The Wire.)
