Thousands of farmers attended the second Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) Mahapanchayat (great gathering) in Monga, in India’s north-western Punjab province, on Thursday, January 9. There, the farmers adopted a resolution calling for broader unity among all farmers’ groups in their fight against the central government’s anti-farmer policies and its efforts to prioritize big corporate interests in the country’s agriculture.
“Our target should be the central government and its pro-corporate policies. There should be no attempt to compete or compare with each other,” the eight point unity resolution adopted by the Mahapanchayat reads.
SKM organized the first Kisan Mahapanchayat in Tohana, in the Indian state of Haryana, on January 4. The gathering called on the central government, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, to respect democratic principles and immediately engage with the farmers who have been mobilizing and raising concrete demands for years now.
The central government, led by the ultra right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has refused to engage with the farmer’s demands of a legal minimum support price (MSP) for all farm produce, despite promising to do so in 2021. It has instead continuously pushed for pro-corporate “reforms” in agriculture which farmers claim are against the interests of the majority of Indian peasants as well as the broader population that depends on the agricultural production of small farmers.
Though the total share of agriculture in the Indian economy has been declining over the years it still contributes nearly 15% of its GDP. Agriculture, however, is the most important source of employment with nearly 43% of its total workforce employed in the sector. The present BJP government came to power with a promise to double the farmers income, however, farmers have faced increased distress in the decade of its rule.
Farmers at the Monga Mahapanchayat adopted a charter which includes the demands of a legal MSP along with a farm loan waiver and the scrapping of the new draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM).
The NPFAM introduced in November by the BJP government has been described as more dangerous than the three farm laws it was forced to withdraw after months-long protests by the farmers around the capital Delhi in 2020-21.
The SKM Mahapanchayat also endorsed the call given by SKM (NP) and KNM to burn the copies of NPFAM all over the country on January 13 and to organize district-level tractor marches on January 26.
SKM calls for opposition to NPFAM and criticizes parliamentary recommendations on MSP
SKM has maintained that since agriculture is a state subject in the Indian constitution, the central government has no right to legislate on the matter. Therefore its resolution asks all state/provincial governments in India to “defend federal principles and reject” NPFAM “by passing a resolution” in their respective legislative assemblies.
“The WTO and the policies of their corporate friends have launched a renewed attack on the farmers of India and we cannot remain mute spectators,” SKM said in the press release on Thursday.
SKM also dismissed a recent parliamentary committee recommendation on MSP claiming it missed certain crucial points. The parliamentary committee recommended a legal MSP and increased financial support to the farmers in its report to the government in December. However, the report failed to mention the C2+50% (total cost of production+50%) formula for the MSP that was recommended by the MS Swaminathan committee in 2006 and demanded by farmers.
Farmers have claimed that agriculture cannot be a profitable profession for the majority of farmers in India, who are small farmers, without an MSP based on the C2+50% formula. The financial strain on farmers has been intensified by the rising cost of production and the compulsion of distress sales of agricultural products due to the absence of government procurement.
Rising tensions and urgent call to action
Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s indefinite hunger strike marked its 50th day on Monday. Reports indicate that his health has seriously deteriorated and he is in danger of losing his life. At least two farmers have died since the agitation began on February 13 of last year, initiated by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), a breakaway faction of the SKM, and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders.
Thursday’s resolution calls for a joint struggle among all three groups: SKM, SKM-NP and KMM. On Friday, top SKM leadership visited the Khanauri border, located between the Punjab and Haryana provinces, where Dallewal is on hunger strike, to meet with him. The delegation also plans to visit the Shambhu border to express solidarity and present a united front.
SKM has urged the central government to immediately begin talks with the agitating farmers, warning that if anything were to happen to Dallewal, the consequences would be severe. A national council meeting has been scheduled for January 24 and 25 to determine the future course of action for the agitation.
