Agriculture

Farmers’ Protests 2.0: DTE reports from ground zero Shambhu border

DTE video journalists, Prabhat Kumar & Dhruval Parekh, at Shambhu border as Haryana Police fired tear gas on farmers crossing from Punjab

By DTE Staff
Published: Tuesday 13 February 2024

Down To Earth video journalists, Prabhat Kumar and Dhruval Parekh, are at the ground zero of the ‘Farmers’ Protest 2.0’. Both were at the Shambhu border crossing between Patiala in Punjab and Ambala in Haryana as hundreds of farmers from Punjab attempted to cross, en route to Delhi.

The Haryana Police used tear gas to stop the farmers and went as far as using drones for it.

But the farmers were prepared, unlike last time. Water tankers and farmer groups kept interchanging positions to mitigate the shelling.

Some 200 farmer organisations led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, are heading towards Delhi to protest against the unfulfillment of their demands.

The demands include Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee, justice for the farmers killed in Lakhimpur-Kheri (Uttar Pradesh) during the earlier 2020-21 protests against the three controversial farm laws, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, farm loan waiver, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, India’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the earlier year-long protests.

The march comes after two rounds of talks between farmer leaders and Union ministers failed to sort out issues.

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