By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Nov 19, 2021: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise announcement November 19 to repeal the controversial farm laws was welcomed with caution by farmers and their supporters across India.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Joint Farmers’ Force), a coalition of more than 40 farmers’ unions formed in November 2020, welcomed the prime minister’s decision but said it would wait for the decision to take effect through due parliamentary procedures.
“If this happens, it will be a historic victory of the one-year-long farmers’ struggle in India,” said the morcha that on November 26, 2020, brought thousands of farmers to oppose through non-violence the farm bills, camping at the borders of the national capital.
A morcha press statement, issued immediately after the prime minister’s 9 am address to the nation, termed the laws as anti-farmer, pro-corporate that were first brought in as ordinances in June 2020.
Observing that the prime minister chose the birthday of Guru Nanak to announce the laws’ withdrawal, the morcha regretted that the farmers’ struggle had “martyred” nearly 700 companions. “The central government’s obstinacy is responsible for these avoidable deaths, including the murders at Lakhimpur Kheri,” the farmers alleged.
Four farmers were killed October 3 when a federal minister’s vehicle allegedly ran over them at Tikunia in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. Four others, including a journalist, were also killed and ten wounded.
The farmers union reminded the prime minister that their agitation was not just for the laws’ repeal, but for a statutory guarantee of remunerative prices for all agricultural produce and for all farmers. Also pending is the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill.
Presentation Sister Dorothy Fernandes, the new national secretary of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace, an advocacy group for women and men religious, welcomed the prime minister’s announcement with the remarks, “repeal was needed.”
“This is the first victory for farmers and mass moment and sustained peaceful struggle,” the Patna-based nun, who had come to Delhi with some forum members to show solidarity with the farmers, told Matters India.
At the same time, she suspects the announcement could be a “deceptive stunt, to win back votes.” She would wait for the repeal to be done through a parliamentary process.
“Who is responsible for the death of the innocent farmers? What about the extensive expenditure taken up by the government to put up barricades? It is our money. Who will account for the character assassination and calling the farmers as terrorists?” she asks.
Meanwhile, Joy Kannanchira, president of the “We Farm,” a farmers movement in the southern Indian state of Kerala, welcomed the prime minister’s decision,but “will wait till it actually happens in the parliament.”
“The sacrifice of thousands of farmers has finally seen some results,” Kannanchira told Matters India.
According to him, the decision was taken in the political backdrop of elections. Assembly elections are due in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand before March 2022.
Kannanchira wants the government to compensate for the farmers who died during the protest. “Until November 19, as many as 617 farmers died at the protest ground and their sacrifice should not go wasted,” said the Catholic layman, who too had come to the Delhi borders twice to sit with the protesting farmers.
Kannanchira also wants the agriculture sector protected from wild animals.
“We want the government to protect the farmers not only from the corporate firms and big players, but also from wild animals,” said Kannanchira, who hinted launching another protest for such a law.
Augustine Veliath, a former official of UNICEF, welcomed the prime minister’s decision as a “turning point in the life of authoritarian and majoritarian government. People do matter. This realization has set in. Nobody expected the farmers to stand together and stand united for so long.”
Nirmala Carvalho, a Mumbai-based senior journalist who has covered the farmers’ protests for international media, says she is “absolutely pleased” with the announcement. “Let the government take credit, but the farmers have won with their grit, tenacity and sacrifice,” she told Matters India. Hailing the farmers’ peaceful satyagraha as “another kind of freedom struggle,” Carvalho said, “It’s also a victory for our future generations.”
Jesuit Father Chacko Antony, who works among the tribal communities in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, says, “Sense has reached him late after causing so much harm to the farming community.”
Another Jesuit social activist, Irudhaya Jothi, who works in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, welcomed the prime minister’s belated wisdom in repealing the unconstitutional three farm laws passed without foresight. “It is a victory of the people and the future of India is better secured from the corporates,” he told Matters India.
Sister Sujata Jena, a lawyer and social activist in Bhubaneswar, says the farmers’ persistence and sacrifice have paid off. “It’s an achievement for all of us. Democracy has triumphed once again,” she told Matters India.
She says the support of the civil society along with national and international media contributed to the great achievement. However, she wants to wait and watch before celebrating the victory.
Withdrawal of the three Farms Laws does not guarantee freedom of farmers from all their woes. Under the laws, farmers had the right to approach the market to sell their products. They also had the choice to enter into agreements with buyers other than the Mandis, and thus had assured market for their products according to the period of agreement with the buyers. Now they will continue to be under the clutches of Mandi cartel. Presently, India’s agricultural markets are regulated by the states under the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act.
Under the APMC Act, the states can establish agricultural markets, popularly known as mandis. The sale of agricultural commodities can occur only in the mandis through auction. The sales process in mandis is regulated through commission agents (CAs) who mediate between the farmers and traders.
Many farmers ((57% according to New Indian Express report dated 12th December 2020) are unhappy with the mandi system of sale. The reasons are exploitation by CAs, lower price realisation, lack of transparency in the trading process, collusion among traders, price cartelisation, delay in payments and low quality of mandi infrastructure. The delay in payments to the farmers ranges from three to fifty days. Instant payment is made only after deducting the interest on loans obtained by farmers from CAs. The payment delay forces the farmers to depend on borrowing from CAs, local money lenders and savings for their daily expenses. Most farmers depend on CAs for credit, price information, transportation and storage.
The laws implemented would have allowed the farmers to continue to sell their produce in mandis and providing alternative options to others. Interestingly it was the UPA Regime under Dr Manmohan Singh which had prepared a draft of these laws. Modi Government just passed the laws. What could have been done is to ensure a Minimum Support Price (MSP) inserted in the law and discussion of some collaborative modifications to the laws, instead of a long-drawn agitation.
It is yet to be found out what the farmers have gained by the repeal of the laws (yet to be done officially). On his part, Prime Minister Modi should have been more friendly to the farmers’ leaders/representatives to explain his goal of freeing up the farmers from the clutches of mandis through these three laws. Also he should have been open to reasonable modifications.
The prime minister is not sorry for having caused pain and loss for numberless farmers for a year. The reason for promising to repeal the laws that he was not able to convince a section of the farmers. Did he ever listen to them? Were they able to convince him or his government? It is not just him, but the entire BJP seemed so abjectly to fighting against the farmers. Now, the sudden conversion before the elections reminds us of a Tamil proverb: It seems the wolf was feeling bad because the goat was getting wet in the rain! Hope the farmers, and the rest of the country will see through this game and be wise also in the voting in choosing leaders who will listen to the people.
Who has to be held responsible for the lost lives of hundreds of farmers during this agitation. The govt must compensate to their families with financial help as well as free education to their children.
But sense reaching to our Holy Father on Child abuse and no actions for decades and decades .Save Children and provide justice to the victims
It was gratuitous on the part of the Government to have announced repeal of the three controversial farm laws, making so many individuals and groups happy. The sense of positivity with which the news has been received is encouraging. Nevertheless, lest one miss the wood for the trees, it must be unequivocally stated that there political compulsions that must not missed. For one, there are elections due in certain states of the Indian Union. Secondly, the General Elections are not very far either. It is more than obvious that the BJP-ruled government at the Centre is treading cautiously on a ground that it is carefully preparing for a bigger victory both state-wise and nation-wide, and so finds giving in to the farmers’ demands of least import. After all what is the loss of the lives of 700 farmers for the cause compared to the booty that comes in with winning 700,000 and more votes that will help it retain Raisina Hill and almost every gubernatorial seat in the country!