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Amidst Rain, Kisan Sansad Takes on Contract Farming

Indra Shekhar Singh

30 July 2021, New Delhi: It rained all day as another session of the Kisan Sansad (farmers’ parliament) was in progress.

Even a neem tree and a canopy couldn’t keep the Sansad venue from getting drenched. But this was no deterrent for those in attendance. The topic for the day was the Contract Farming Act. The ‘House’ was full, and the ‘Sansad Well’ was flooded with rainwater.

As it continued to rain, Swarnjeet Singh, a potato farmer from Punjab, began the discussion by saying, “PepsiCo is the perfect model for contract farming. They made us buy seeds and fertilisers when the market prices crashed. Then, Pepsi said my produce didn’t meet their grade. Everything was wasted, and I couldn’t even use my potatoes as seed. If contract farming comes to India in a big way, every farmer will suffer the same fate.”

Corporate contracts from the time of the East India Company to PepsiCo have never been good for farmers. Many gathered there have personally suffered at the hands of sugar mill owners and big corporations and have been seeking justice for a long time. Most are reviled by the idea of contract farming.

In attendance was Sardar Amar Singh who wore a teal turban and had grey curly beard. He had a lifetime of experience in farming. “In 30 years, corporations will rule our land. They are trapping us in debt, exploiting our distress. If we don’t oppose this now, nothing will be left for us in the future.”

The Kisan Sansad in progress.

Hearing this impassioned appeal, Bheem Lal, from Allahabad, rose from his seat. “Contrary to Modi’s claims, contract farming will swallow our fields. Farming contracts will force farmers to take additional loans from banks by mortgaging their lands. Next, companies will manipulate farmers by introducing grading. Most of our produce will be rejected. With diminished incomes and high debt, farmers will be trapped,” he said.

Once representatives from Uttar Pradesh had spoken, it was Bihar’s turn – a state which abolished APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committees) in 2006 and also had contract farming at some point in the past.

“Bihar has been ruined. Our incomes have halved. Companies are using the same traders to bring down prices further. We are forced to sell for low prices,” said Dinesh Singh, a farmer from Bihar.

“First they got the land ceiling and took away our land. Now they are taking the same land and selling it to companies. We know now on whose behest our land is being taken,” Rajinder Kaur, a farmer from Punjab said. Her comment resonated with those gathered at the Kisan Sansad.

Echoing Kaur’s sentiments, Surender Kumar from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, said, “Our land is our mother, and everyone knows, we don’t auction our mother. Contract farming has failed in Madhya Pradesh massively. There are various instances, including in [Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh] Tomar’s area, where companies have entered into contracts with farmers and run away when it was time to pay.”

The Sansad didn’t only have farmers, but some scholars in attendance too. I caught up with Ankush Parocha, a PhD scholar and a farmer representative. “These laws are part of the de-peasantification process. They want companies to become big landlords once again and move all the agricultural labour to factories. Climate change, water scarcity, etc., will exacerbate this process,” he predicted with ominous certainty.

Other issues pertaining to dispute settlement, trader accountability, cartelisation, and finally, oligopoly were discussed. “Big corporates like Adani have captured Himachali apples, edible oils, and now, wheat too. Small traders are also suffering and are against corporate contracts,” said Narendra Jaiswal from Bhopal.

“The SDM [sub-divisional magistrate] and DM [district magistrate] are beyond the farmers’ reach now, and rarely can individual farmers approach them. Nevertheless, the government takes away our legal rights and makes SDM and DM the highest appellate authority against corporate injustice. This is company sarkar, not ours,” said Krishna Sharma, a farmer from Sonepat.

As discussions reached a crescendo, hot rajma-chawal was served by a local gurudwara committee, and we all ate, huddled up. After lunch, the session continued, without interruption, with speakers narrating various forms of injustice being meted out to farmers. These were stories of fraud and corporate malfeasance. The paramilitary personnel standing guard there looked intently as speakers shed light on the injustice being faced by farmers.

For the last word, I jumped across the clogged sewage and caught hold of Kisan Sansad speaker Narendra Singh, veteran politician and former agriculture minister of Bihar.

“This has a bearing on nation-wide revolution. Naturally, farmers whose livelihoods get impacted directly will vehemently oppose it, but awareness is still spreading across the country. It’s time they move beyond the free farm bills and include social justice issues too. Once peasants, Dalit people, women and other minorities join, a new kind of politics will be born in India,” he said.

It was already 5 pm and the Kisan Sansad had concluded. I turned around to leave, crossing hundreds of police personnel and walked into the soft pitter-patter of raindrops.

(Indra Shekhar Singh is an independent policy analyst and writer on agriculture and environment. He was earlier director at the National Seed Association of India. Courtesy: The Wire.)

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At Jantar Mantar, Women Farmers Hold ‘Kisan Sansad’; Highlight Their Role in Agriculture

Ronak Chhabra

26 July 2021: A contingent of women farmers from Delhi’s neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana gathered on Monday at Jantar Mantar in the national capital for the ‘Kisan Sansad’ marking the completion of eight months of the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s farm laws.

Nearly 200 in strength, as allowed by the Delhi government, the women protested at Jantar Mantar and raised slogans demanding the scrapping of the three farm laws — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The farmers, who have stayed put at Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders since last November, have now planned to protest against the Centre and also conduct ‘Kisan Sansads’ under the banner of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on each working day of the Parliament until the ongoing Monsoon Session ends. They want to enhance pressure on the Centre to heed to their demands.

On Monday, the focus of the farmers’ parliament (Sansad) was the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, and the farmers’ demand for the enactment of a law guaranteeing remunerative minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

The women’s ‘Kisan Sansad’ was moderated by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader Subhasini Ali. It commenced with the singing of the national anthem, followed by the observation of a two-minute silence in the memory of the farmers who have died during the eight-month agitation. “Today’s Sansad will showcase the strength of women. Women can farm as well run the country, and today everybody here is a politician,” she said.

Asserting that the farmers’ protest against the three “black laws” and their demand for MSP will continue, Ali said, “The government keeps calling us (farmers) by different names like terrorists, Khalistanis, etc. but if they have the strength, then they should not eat the food produced by these terrorists and Khalistanis.”

Another participant, Nav Kiran, demanded the withdrawal of the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, claiming it was “anti-woman, anti-poor, and anti-common man”.

Explaining how the law was anti-woman, she said, “We have seen how the prices of cooking oil and cooking gas have gone up because of this law. It will not allow women the scope to save whatever little money they could manage to earlier from their monthly expenses.”

Actress and activist Gul Panag, who attended the ‘Kisan Sansad’, said with the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, the government has made the original law passed in 1955 “toothless”.

“The new law will promote hoarding and black marketing. What people are not understanding is that this new law will not affect the farmers but the middle class,” she said.

“A resolution was passed unanimously in the Women Farmers’ Parliament that despite the immense contribution of women to Indian agriculture, they do not have the dignity and status that they ought to – in the farmers’ movement, the role of women farmers has to be strengthened through well thought-out steps,” the SKM said in a press statement on Monday.

It added that the Mahila Kisan Sansad on Monday also resolved unanimously to have a 33% reservation for women in the Parliament and state legislatures.

(Courtesy: Newsclick.)

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‘If Food Isn’t Essential, What Is?’: Women Farmers Have Questions – and Answers – for Modi Govt

Indra Shekhar Singh

After eight months and no consensus between farmers’ leaders and the Union government, over a thousand women gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to run a ‘Mahila Kisan Sansad’. While 200 women ran the parallel parliament set up by farmers, hundreds of others guarded them – politics and security were both led by the women.

To get a glimpse of the action, I quickly crossed the checkpoints and found myself sitting under a neem tree, facing 200 women parliamentarians. Debate on the essential commodities amendment was in full swing.

“Why did Modi use the pandemic to pass laws?” “Why is government selling our food system to Ambani-Adani?” The women parliamentarians had many questions, but only two minutes to express their views. They used Hindi, Punjabi, Haryanvi and English to shoot down the farm laws and poke holes in the essential commodities amendments.

“If food is not essential, what is?” asked Pooja Kanojia from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh. She was dismayed at how the UP government handled the COVID-19 crisis. “They (the government) couldn’t even get us oxygen, how can we trust them with our food? We cannot lose relatives to hunger now,” she said. During the Sansad, I saw many women who had come straight from the hinterlands of Punjab, Haryana, UP and some from even Bengal. They carried with them their pride and pain.

Manish Birla presented the case for non-paddy and -wheat farmers, “I come from the Rajasthan-Haryana border, we grow bajra, moong, cotton and other dry land crops. We neither get the MSP nor the does the government procure our crops. When white-fly attack our cotton, its doesn’t become news and our farmers and homes are destroyed waiting for compensation.”

“When the farmers themselves can’t eat dal and mustard, what has India come too?” asked Jaspreet Kaur, an elderly women from Punjab. Another women from Punjab, Harpreet Kaur, spoke out against the WTO. “Indian farmers have suffered for years due to WTO; as member of the parliament, I request for withdrawal from the WTO,” she said.

The Women’s Sansad also saw well-known faces make an appearance – from veteran activist to Medha Patkar to actor Gul Panang. But many women were media shy, too. Pooja Singh from UP said, “For us the solution is simple, repeal the three laws, and send us home. The ball is Modi’s court, why are you asking us for solutions, go ask Modi.”

Amidst the hustle-bustle, I found veteran farmer leader Yudhvir Singh, the official observer for the Sansad. “Women run the house and the household budget. Inflation and bad policies of the Modi government are hurting their home budgets. Each home is suffering, and hence women have been a big part of this kranti (revolution).”

“We want repeal of the laws, but also implementation of 50% reservation for women in parliament. There can be no social justice without the empowerment of women,” said Sapna Yadav, a young woman farmer. The Sansad held three sessions which saw a variety other issues emerge – scarcity of water, rising fuel prices and women’s education.

“By handing over our fields to corporations and stealing all our grain, Modi ji wants to fulfil his promise to us. Our farms don’t generate profits, our children unemployed and slowly hunger is rising in the villages,” said Paramjeet Kaur, a 46 year old from Rajasthan.

There was much to say, but very little time left for the Sansad. I asked Medha Patkar, what does it all mean? “This farmers’ uprising has brought together the workers, peasants, farmers and women all together. This is a people’s movement for social justice and fairness. No government should ignore it. The women have shown us that they are resilient and will not be defeated.”

The Sansad continued, more speeches were made and issues discussed. Finally, a woman ‘agriculture minister’ addressed the gathering, “I accept all your criticisms, these laws are not for our country. This Sansad repeals these black laws, and I pray, both Narendras (Modi and Tomar) hear the call of the mothers and sisters of India. God shall prevail and we will win.”

The day ended with women getting into buses and going home. Stillness returned as a lone tricolour under the neem tree fluttered.

(Indra Shekhar Singh is director – policy and outreach, National Seed Association of India. Courtesy: The Wire.)

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‘Mission UP’: Farmers to Campaign Against BJP in Upcoming Polls

Abdul Alim Jafri

26 Jul 2021, Lucknow: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmers’ unions, on Monday launched ‘Mission UP’ at the press club in the state capital of Lucknow on the completion of eight months of the farmers’ protest against three contentious Farm Laws ahead of the assembly elections in the state next year.

The top leadership of the SKM, including Yogendra Yadav, Rakesh Tikait, Mukut Singh and Darshan Pal, released an open letter to all farmers urging them not to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections.

Addressing the press conference, Yadav said: “Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had assured farmers that his government will purchase every single grain of wheat till farmers are interested in selling their produce. But, it was proved as empty rhetoric. According to government data, procurement of wheat in the corresponding period in 2020-21 was 308 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) in the state, and ironically total government purchase is just 56 lakh metric tonnes – which is just 18% of the total estimated production – this year. The government has not purchased a single quintal of pulses, mustard, lentil, gram and maize till date. Due to the attitude of the state government, the majority of farmers in Uttar Pradesh were forced to sell their produce below the minimum support price (MSP),” he said adding that the Centre’s Agmarknet portal showed that the average rate at which wheat was bought in UP till July 20 was Rs 1,884, Rs 91 less than the MSP.

He said that after braving eight months, including a harsh winter, scorching heat and the rains, the SKM has decided to reach out to every single person and district in UP and intensify the stir. “During Mission UP, farmers from Punjab and Haryana will hit the road and organise several programmes to educate peasants; they will also organise rallies and mahapanchayats in 75 districts.”

When Newsclick asked how the SKM would address the issues of farmers in the Purvanchal region, where a huge chunk of tillers are landless and unaware of the new laws, Yadav said that their volunteers, “who have been camping on the border for the last eight months, will go among farmers soon and start their campaign. They will talk about the loopholes in the laws and also address their issues such as stray animals, water supply, fertiliser, seeds, chemical and the price of electricity, which are some of the biggest concerns for these small farmers.”

Yadav said that the farmers unions had never imagined that the movement would last even eight days, let alone eight months. “The movement has brought back the self-respect of farmers. Besides, the government has realised the power of farmers,” he said.

Echoing similar views, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said UP would be the next major destination for the ongoing farmers’ agitation and they are expected to kick off the mission with a massive ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ on September 5 in Muzaffarnagar, western Uttar Pradesh. At least 18 rallies will be held across the state against the three farm laws and in opposition of the BJP in the upcoming polls.

Warning the government that it should not take farmers for granted, Tikait warned that they would turn Lucknow into Delhi and that all roads to the state capital would “be sealed by farmers”.

“We will turn Lucknow into Delhi and all roads to the state capital will be closed. UP has always been a state of agitation. Our agitation will continue until all the three laws are repealed,” he said at the press conference.

Elaborating on the ordeal of farmers in the state, the BKU leader further added: “The rate at which sugarcane is bought has not been increased for four years in the state; Rs 12,000 crore are still outstanding dues of farmers. Electricity is free for farmers in many states, including Haryana and Punjab, but in UP, the power tariffs are the highest. UP is following Gujarat, which is run by the police and not by the government,” he said, adding that green gram or moong growers in UP were forced to sell their crop for cheap while potato farmers had been ruined.

Senior SKM leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said the issues faced by UP’s farmers were different from those being faced by farmers in Punjab and Haryana. The stray cattle menace has created more trouble for farmers in the state. “The government has imposed cow welfare cess and taken tax for it but did not solve the issue. Their love for cows has been exposed,” he said.

(Courtesy: Newsclick.)