Farmers Agitation Again

Nation is witnessing the agitation of farmers again. Punjab farmers unions have called for a protest march to Delhi to seek the national attention. Meanwhile the farmers have said that they will wait  for the word on the result of the talks over their demands. Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda  has  said that the Centre is ready for the talks with an open mind. He has stressed for the dialogue for the resolution of the stalemate. He along with the Union Minister, Piyush Goyal and   the Minister of State, Nityanand Rai are scheduled to have the second round of talks with the farmers in Chandigarh today. The major demand of the farmers is a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP).Centre has announced MSP for 22 mandated crops  on the recommendations  of the Commission  for Agricultural  Costs and Prices(CACP).It was on 18th July 2022  that the Central Government had formed  a committee  to deliberate on the  several issues  that included the MSP for making it more effective and transparent. This committee was constituted after the   withdrawal of the three farm laws by the Prime Minister that had brought the farmers on the roads for almost one year, bringing the nation to a standstill. As all the major national highways were blocked by the farmers to draw the attention of the Central Government towards their demands. The three laws that made the nation witness an unprecedented farmer agitation in the history  were-Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020,Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services  Act,2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act  2020.The farmers opposed these laws and as such they were shelved. Their demands also included the legal guarantee  on MSP based on  the Swaminathan Commission’s C2 + 50 % formula. This committee  headed by the then Agriculture Secretary held six meetings  besides 31 sub – group meetings and workshops  but its report is yet to be submitted. It seems that the farmers have decided to pressurise the Central Government to deliver on the farmer issues. Swarn Singh Pandher, Co-ordintor of the  Kisan Mazdoor Morcha has said that the affiliates of his organisation  and Samyukta  Kisan Morcha  will move out from different parts of Punjab  and gather at  Fatehgarh Sahib on Monday. These farmer organisations and their leaders are waiting for the outcomes of the talks to be held at Chandigarh today. Haryana Government has already alerted its security and Delhi is also on the high alert with the Punjab- Haryana borders on guard by the security forces. Keeping in view the previous situation that evolved during the farmer agitation when COVID was taking its toll. There is every apprehension that situation may go out of control. As per the intelligence inputs farmers from various parts of the country are already mobilised. Farmers from Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have already been stopped from marching forward towards the national capital. Whole nation has witnessed how the situation went out of control when the subversive elements took advantage of the farmer crowds on the streets and that led to the law and order problem leading to a national crisis. It also exposed the fault lines within the farmer movement and the hand of various agencies who wanted to take advantage of the farmer agitation to create bloodshed across the nation. As such the Central Government must address the issues of the farmers on priority. So that the situation is not exploited by the enemies of the nation who want to create social tensions. Moreover this call for agitation again has come up when the Lok Sabha Elections are to be held in the coming months. This build-up of farmers can be misused to score political points by the vested interests. So that they can reap the political dividends. That must not be allowed. Holding the nation to ransom by the forces who want to use farmers as cannon fodder is unacceptable. Nation has learnt the lesson in the previous agitation that infiltration of subversive elements and organisations who want to destabilise the  social harmony can’t be given a  free hand at the cost law and order.