The back of the Indian farmour is against the wall amid rising costs of inputs, climate change-induced risks and faulty market mechanisms Family members of farmers who committed suicide demonstrate in Delhi (December 2018). Photo: Adithyan PC
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Kanwar Grewal: ‘I feel very responsible for what is happening around me’
HIS songs Ailaan (Proclamation: The Voice of People) and Pecha created waves during the farmers’ protests, so much so that the video recording of Ailaan was taken off from YouTube without much of an explanation. At 37, Kanwar Grewal is the latest singing sensation, enjoying millions of views in the subcontinent, even among people who do not necessarily understand Punjabi. He intersperses his singing with conversations with the audience. The farmers’ movement, he says, impacted him a lot and he felt drawn towards it. He says he cannot understand why Pecha, which had drawn more viewers on YouTube, was retained while Ailaan was banned. Both the songs had similar lyrics exemplifying the angst of farmers.The lines Faslaa de faisle
Sarwan Singh Pandher: ‘The government has to first create an environment conducive to talks’
One of the organisations that participated in the kisan parade of January 26 was the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. Like the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), it enjoys wide support among farmers and agricultural workers in Punjab.On January 29, at around noon, as KMSC volunteers worked in langars (community kitchens) at the Singhu protest site area, an unruly mob gained access to an area close to the main podium of the organisation with the police in tow and pelted stones at them and shouted incendiary slogans. Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the KMSC, told Frontline that the attack was engineered by sections affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. It was an attempt, he said,
Farmers’ movement gathers steam in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
Come February 26, the farmers’ protest at the borders of Delhi would have completed 90 days with no real breakthrough in talks with regard to their basic demands: the repeal of the three contentious farm laws—the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020—and a guarantee of a legal framework for the minimum support price (MSP). More than 200 farmers have reportedly died so far from natural and other causes. Youngsters who have tweeted their support for the cause face cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 124 A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Unfair fields: Asymmetric WTO rules let US inflate cotton subsidies must be reformed
Cottton farmers in India and other Global South countries, like the Afican C-4 of benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, at peril due to lopsided policy Cotton subsidies have remained a contentious issue in international trade and negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Farmers of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) complain that the massive support provided by developed countries, especially the United States, has rendered cotton production uncompetitive in the Global South, leading to a disastrous impact on agricultural growth, export earnings and farmers’ welfare. The impact is particularly palpable in countries
Unfair fields: Asymmetric WTO rules let US inflate cotton subsides must be reformed
Cottton farmers in India and other Global South countries, like the Afican C-4 of benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, at peril due to lopsided policy Cotton subsidies have remained a contentious issue in international trade and negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Farmers of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) complain that the massive support provided by developed countries, especially the United States, has rendered cotton production uncompetitive in the Global South, leading to a disastrous impact on agricultural growth, export earnings and farmers’ welfare. The impact is particularly palpable in countries
Can farm income be doubled by next year
Agricultural sector will require an annual growth rate of 10.4% to achieve the target. But for the last few years, this rate has remained between 2.8% and 3.4% Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 28, 2016, had announced that by the time India celebrated its 75th Independence Day in 2022, its farmers’ income would have doubled. The Union Budget 2021-22 presented on February 1, 2021 was, in fact, the penultimate budget before this deadline. It was a great opportunity for the Union government to outline what it had been doing to achieve this target, or at least give an
Maharashtra’s farmers stand united with the farmers’ protesting on Delhi’s borders
IN what has become symbolic of the farmers’ struggle in Maharashtra, hundreds of them marched down Nashik’s winding Kasara Ghat on January 24 to mark their protest against the controversial farm Acts. It was a river of red that was similar to what was seen during the March 2018 Long March. On that occasion, close to 40,000 farmers wearing red caps and scarves and waving Communist Party of India (Marxist) red flags walked the 180 kilometres from Nashik to Mumbai to present the State government with a charter of demands, which would essentially ease their debt burden and improve the procurement system.As the nationwide struggle by farmers intensified, Maharashtra’s farming community, led by several farmers organisations, has been showing
Allahabad High Court halts the Uttar Pradesh government’s attempts to intimidate farmers
The Uttar Pradesh government’s latest attempts to intimidate farmers of western Uttar Pradesh have been temporarily halted by the intervention of the Allahabad High Court. In a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by the social activist and independent researcher Arundhati Dhuru, the Lucknow Bench of the High Court pulled up the State authorities and asked them to explain “under what circumstances” the sub divisional magistrates (SDMs) had issued notices to farmers with tractors and asked them to furnish “exorbitant amount of personal bond and two sureties”.During January 19-22 this year, thousands of farmers across various districts of Uttar Pradesh were served notices by the respective SDMs under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedural Code (CrPC), stating that they
Simply Put: Double trouble
Simply Put: Double trouble Source link