Kisan Mahapanchayat to be organised at Ramlila Ground today; participation from Punjab to be affected

Farmers from across India are expected to converge on Ramlila Ground in the national capital on March 20, 2023, to attend a Kisan Mahapanchayat, according to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a grouping of farmers unions.

Attendance from Punjab, a prominent agrarian state, will be hit as the state police continues operations to nab prominent separatist, Amritpal Singh.

SKM leaders met on the morning of March 19, 2023 at the Press Club of India in New Delhi. They condemned the Union government’s pro-corporate thrust in “development” which is undermining farm income and leading to snatching of farmland, forest reserves and natural resources to help corporate profit, a statement by SKM noted.

Leaders from SKM shall speak in detail about the impact of government policies on farmers, adivasi farmers, women farmers, agricultural and migrant labour, rural workers, unemployment and rising cost of living and declining purchasing power at the Mahapanchayat, the statement added.

The Mahapanchayat shall demand that the Centre fulfil the commitments it had given in writing to SKM on December 9, 2021 and also take effective steps to mitigate the ever increasing and spiralling crisis being faced by farmers.

Demands made by the SKM include:

1. A law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, using the C2 + 50 per cent formula, based on the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission and assured procurement should be immediately enacted and implemented.
2. The dismissal of the committee constituted by the Centre on MSP and the formation of a new committee with due representation of farmers, by including representatives of SKM.
3. Immediate waiver of all loans of all farmers and reduction of input prices including fertilisers.
4. Withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2022 referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee
5. Dismissal and incarceration of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’.
6. Providing compensation and rehabilitation to the families of all farmers who died during the 2020-2021 farm protests as well as at Tikonia in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.
7. Replacing the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana by implementing universal, comprehensive and effective crop insurance and compensation package for all crops, to compensate for losses being constantly faced by farmers due to drought, flood, hailstorm, untimely and/or excessive rain, crop related diseases, wild animals, stray cattle etc.
8. Immediate implementation of a farmer pension scheme of Rs 5,000 per month for all farmers and agricultural labourers.

It was on November 19, 2021, that the Narendra Modi government repealed the three controversial farm laws passed by Parliament in September 2020.

This came after a year of protests by farmers at the border posts of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur in Delhi. Many died from heat, cold and COVID-19.