Preparations underway for June 26 'Save Agriculture, Save Democracy Day' all over India: Kisan Morcha
New Delhi, June 22, 2021: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Tuesday said that the agitating farmers are preparing and planning for the marking June 26th 2021 as 'Save Agriculture, Save Democracy' day. On this day, farmers will march to Raj Bhavans and hand over memoranda addressed to President of India to Governors.
The farmers union shared that paddy transplanting operations are completed on around 60-65% of land in Punjab and Haryana, and more farmers are joining the protest sites every day.
“A large contingent of farmers led by BKU Asli reached Ghazipur Border yesterday. Local villagers are extending full support in the form of supply of food materials like milk and vegetables to various Morcha sites. As reported yesterday, around 50 trolley loads of wheat was donated by villagers in and around Kharkhoda of Sonepat, Haryana. This effort was led by RKMS (Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan).
The farmer leaders informed that on Tuesday, Haryana BJP and JJP leaders faced farmers' wrath in numerous places.
“Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala was not spared either. In Sirsa, where he went to unveil the statue of Shri Devilal, he faced protesting farmers. Dushyant Chautala stated that the protestors cannot be farmers if they are opposing the unveiling of the statue of Late Shri Devilal, choosing to ignore the fact that farmers were protesting not against the unveiling of a statue, but were protesting against an anti-farmer leader like Dushyant Chautala,” the farmer leaders added.
The farmers union also discussed the June 21 incident where Chandigarh Police picked up protestor Labh Singh, an elderly Nihang Singh who have been protesting at Mata Chowk.
“Yesterday, Chandigarh Police had to unconditionally release protestor Labh Singh, an elderly Nihang Sikh who has been protesting in support of the farmers, after picking him up. After social media messages from some farm leaders, lots of supporters gathered at the police station where he was detained; he had to be subsequently released unconditionally to continue with his protest at Matka Chowk,” commented Balbir Singh Rajewal, farmer leader.
The Farmers Union stated that there are regular reports from all over India that farmers are not able to get fair and remunerative prices after putting in their sweat-and-blood-toil for producing various agricultural commodities.
“In Punjab, where crop diversification is direly needed, the prices being offered to maize growers is just about one-third of the MSP declared somewhat meaninglessly by the government. Mango farmers of Andhra Pradesh are on the streets, agitating for better prices while milk producers all over Maharashtra are also protesting. Similar is the case with cotton seed producers in Telangana. Jowar farmers in Telangana who had to sell below MSP before the government began procurement due to High Court orders, are protesting for compensation. In Odisha, farmers are protesting against the lack of paddy procurement. It is the same story repeated across seasons, across states, across commodities for most of the farmers in India. In this unfortunate story, the government did not even fix the announced-MSP at C2+50%,” SKM stated.
“Government of India realised the implications of such adverse prices on farmer incomes; the government has declared its 'doubling farmers' incomes' objective without concretely doing anything towards the same, and guaranteed remunerative prices are the best route towards securing farm incomes. The current agitation will continue until a legal guarantee is enacted for ensuring remunerative prices for all farmers, apart from getting 3 anti-farmer laws repealed,” the Union added.