Twenty Farm unions celebrated 'Kisani Dussehra' and flagged off their protest for agricultural reforms.
Kisan Mazdoor Dussehra
Farmer association groups in North India held hands together to discuss issues surrounding agriculture and importantly, the repercussions of the havoc wreaked by Nature on the crops.
Further adding to the demands is the demand for compensation due to loss incurred by Natural events like the Punjab floods in the year 2023.
Floods caused by the combination of South-West Monsoons and Western Disturbances rendered lands deserted especially in the Malwa region of Punjab.
Farmers predominantly from the states of Punjab and Haryana burnt the effigies of Government incumbents and corporate house businessmen.
A couple of months ago, these farm unions gave a call to expedite the ongoing phased struggle against the Central government.
Today marks the second day of the protest that starts the count from Dussehra.
The demands listed include a guarantee of MSP on all the crops, compensation due to crop loss because of hail storms, livestock (economic and long term) loss due to Punjab Floods, upgradation in the number of employment days of MGNREGA workers, from existing 100 to 200, loan waive off for both Farmers and labourers, demands not fulfilled during the Delhi protests, Justice to the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri murder case and capital punishment to the responsible.
Other demands include all those areas wherein the state government and the central government overlap.
At Punjab's Bathinda, the spree of burning effigies comes to a culmination.
An association's state General Secretary Sukhwinder Kaur Rampura addressed the gathering and mentioned the remorse against the unfulfilled demands by governments time and again.
She expressed the fear of losing the lands of farmers to corporate houses. She insisted on an incessant protest to counter the alleged corporate-favored Policies by the government.
A meeting was held at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh wherein these associations decided to block Toll Plazas in November for a longer duration to make a wake-up call to the central and state governments of the affected regions.
Support to associate professors by Farm associations
Bharti Kisan Union (ekta-ugraha)'s President Joginder Singh Ugraha and General secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan declared their unconditional support to the demands of Associate professors of the region to upgrade working conditions from contractual employment to permanent employment.
This was followed up by some cases that were voiced highly in the state.
Anger against AAP
There's an ongoing tussle between the AAP government and the farm associations because of no negotiation held between the former and the latter ever since the AAP government has assumed office in Punjab.
The main agenda of the Mann-led government before they came to power was the repeal of Farm Laws introduced by the Central Government in 2020.
AAP's promises included fulfilling demands like MSP implementation as soon as it came to power.
18 months down the line, both parties failed to come to the table for a common consensus. During Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann's visits, farmers hit roads as a mark of protest.
Earlier in August, farm unions faced an obstruction caused by the state government to block unions from staging a protest against the central government.
The protest was being staged to demand a compensatory relief package.
On August 21, a day ahead of their planned protest, over 400 farmers across Punjab and Haryana were detained, as per farmers, it was a curb to their freedom of expression.
Preetam Singh, a farmer died after coming under the wheels of a tractor in the farmer convoy, during a duel between the protesters and police.
The angry unions organized Rail roko andolan on September 28-September 30, which cancelled over 340 trains passing through Punjab.
In response to that, the government finally announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for Preetam’s family and a release of all the arrested farmers.
Additional demands
Additional demands include a crackdown on the drug mafia that is ruining hundreds of lives every day, especially in the Malwa and the border region of the states.
As per farmer bodies, the nexus between the culprit and the police acts as an aide to the culprits.
Adding to that, education and health reforms stand at the top of the list.
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