Kisan Krant March: Farmers dig in their heels, will continue stir until demands met

Chaos reigned supreme at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Tuesday as 35,000 protesting farmers tried to enter the Capital. The peasants clashed with policemen while protesting against the Centre's "indifference" towards their plight.

Although the government conceded into some of their demands in the evening, the farmers refused to budge as their main demands were not met.

Thousands of farmers protested as part of the Kisan Kranti Padyatra demanding loan waiver, subsidised electricity and fuel, pension for farmers above 60 and implementation of the MSP as per the production cost approved by the Swaminathan Commission. The contentious issue is what is the production cost that a farmer incurs and how can the minimum support price be 50% more than it. Mandarins have obfuscated the production cost in such a manner that the farmer rarely makes money on MSP.

The government also did not commit to the demand for a complete loan waiver and pondering over few others, the farmers said that they would continue with their protest. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Naresh Tikait said that they were "unsatisfied" and would continue the agitation till all their demands are met. "Farmers have not been able to repay their loans because of drought, crop failure, floods, low MSP and various other reasons," said Naresh Tikait, son of Mahender Singh Tikait one of tallest farmer leaders, who died in 2011.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat said that the government will ensure that crops are purchased from farmers. "We will incorporate farmers' suggestions as far as crop insurance is concerned," Shekhawat said. He added the decision on the fixation of MSP (Minimum Support Price) based on 'C2' input factor as per the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations will also be done in future. "The Centre will send an advisory on the minimum amount fixed for a particular harvest so that every farmer gets a right price for his/her crop," he said.

VM Singh, convenor of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan and the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella of 201 organisations said, "The government has not met our demands, this was a trailer today. Now, farmers from across the country will converge again in full force on Nov 29 in Delhi to press for complete loan waiver and MSP based on Swaminathan formula of production cost."

The government has formed a committee of six chief ministers to look into the issue of labour for farm. "The committee is in talks to link MNREGA with agriculture," Shekhawat said. He added that the Centre would move court over the NGT order (to ban tractor and vehicles which are more than 10 years old).

He said that it would also forward the demand of reducing GST on agricultural equipment to 5% to the GST Council at the earliest.

The farmers who had come marching from Haridwar laid seize to Gazipur blocking most part of two national highways. The farmers parked their tractors and trolleys in Gazipur, making it out of bounds for everyone. At least seven farmers and one ACP were injured in the violence. The police has imposed prohibitory orders for a week, anticipating law and order situation.

The Kisan Kranti March was started by BKU chieftain Tikait at Haridwar on September 23. Thousands of farmers joined the protest and descended at Kisan Ghat. They were, however, stopped at the border by Delhi police. The police resorted to lathicharge, water cannon and tear gas when the farmers tried to break the security blockades and gain access into Delhi.

Sources have claimed that the violence took place when senior BKU leaders had gone to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Naresh, however, did not accompany the delegation. Sources further said that he was neither present at the protest spot, adding that Singh spoke to him over the phone.

By evening, the government had agreed to some of the demands made by the farmers, which Tikait claimed was unacceptable. "The farmers will not retreat from the spot till all our demands are met," he said. Yudhir Singh, spokesperson of BKU tweeted that they had a discussion on 11 points with the government. "The government has agreed on seven points but didn't agree on four points," he said in the tweet. "The government said that it had taken one step forward by announcing MSP based on 'A2 +FL' formula," Singh added.

Upping the ante against the BJP government, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said, "On October 2 when the world is observing non-violence day, the BJP's two-year-long festivities for Gandhi Jayanti have started on a violent note. Now, the farmers cannot even come to Delhi to share their woes."