Farmers’ wrath

It is deplorable that the Centre has shown neither the urgency nor sensitivity to address farmers' concerns over the new laws

The raging unrest over the new farm laws appears to have reached a tipping point, the consequences of which the NDA government can ignore at its own peril. Defying barbed wire barricades, tear gas shells and police restrictions, thousands of angry farmers from northern States, mostly from Punjab, have reached Delhi to converge at Ram Lila Maidan for a massive protest, the scale of which was not seen in the recent times. It is deplorable that the Centre has shown neither the urgency nor sensitivity to address the concerns of the farming community over the recent laws which were enacted despite stiff opposition. Though the government has claimed that the three new laws would herald the much-needed reforms by doing away with middlemen and removing restrictions on the sale of agricultural produce, farmers’ organisations and opposition parties have been arguing that the laws would deprive farmers of guaranteed minimum support price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of corporates. There seems to be a clear disconnect between the sides, largely due to the recalcitrant approach of the Central government and its refusal to reach out to the protestors with fairness and open mind. Fearing a massive influx of protesting farmers, the BJP government in Haryana sealed the State’s border with Punjab and swooped down on kisan leaders. This harsh approach has led to a nasty showdown, pitting the BJP against the farming community as well as the Opposition.

In the past two months, the Centre has held only two rounds of talks with the farmers’ unions; on both occasions, the deliberations remained inconclusive. On October 14, farmers walked out of a meeting with the agriculture secretary, complaining that no minister was present to hear them out. On November 13, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met the union leaders, but to no avail. The Centre needs to proactively engage with the stakeholders and address their concerns. On their part, the protesting farmers should refrain from vandalism and violence. The repeated calls for blocking the roads and rail tracks would distract the attention from the main issues and result in losing popular support. The leaders of farmers’ associations must insist on getting back to the negotiating table to address the sticking points. By bulldozing the farm reform Bills in Parliament without addressing the genuine concerns of farmers and the States, the Centre has hit at the foundations of the three pillars of food security structure: Minimum Support Price, Public Procurement and Public Distribution System. While reforms to strengthen the existing mechanisms are necessary, what the Centre has done now is the removal of the protective shield of farmers.

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