Several farmer organisations had given a call of ‘Dilli Chalo’ (‘Let’s March to Delhi’) on November 26-27 to register their protest over the three farm laws that the central government had promulgated on September 27, 2020. Farmers from different states — mainly Punjab and Haryana, but also parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and western Uttar Pradesh — were stopped from proceeding to the capital at the Delhi borders. Unprecedented methods were deployed to deter these huge rallies from marching ahead. Farmers from Punjab, for example, who tried to enter the neighbouring state of Haryana enroute Delhi, faced hurdles such as heavy barricading, dug up roads, or roads blocked by boulders, barricades, wires and huge piles of sand. In addition, the police used tear gas and water cannons to disrupt their march. The farmers, most of them strapping Sardars who work the fields and farms of the Punjab, were undeterred and pushed forward till they arrived at the border of Delhi. Here they were stopped from entering the city, but have remained camped at the borders and entry points to Delhi after refusing to shift to Burari ground, a site assigned by the central government for protest.

On December 6, the 11th day of the protest, farmers at Tikri border occupy almost a 15-kilometer long stretch of the road (Tikri border is the border between Haryana and Delhi on National Highway 9. It has become one of the central locations of farmers’ protests). Their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles are lined in multiple rows on one side of the national highway, while vehicles ply on the other side of the road. Some of them have even occupied the large empty grounds available in the vicinity. According to some estimates, the number of tractor-trolleys on this border alone would be somewhere between sixty to seventy thousands. A conservative estimate of the number of farmers at this protest site is somewhere between two to three lakhs, although this excludes the flow of those who come from neighbouring villages during the day and return in the evening.

A group of women farmers at the protest site. Picture: Author.

Congregation of tractor-trolleys on the outskirts of Bahadurgarh city. Picture: Author.

Farmers’ Concerns

Tara Singh, 54, a resident of Bhandod village of Mogha district of Punjab had just finished a meeting with fellow farmers from the villages neighbouring his. Tara Singh has not had formal schooling and can barely write his name. He tells me that he cultivates paddy, wheat and fodder crops on his five acres. His main source of cash income, he says, is from the sale of paddy and wheat at the local mandi. Tara Singh says that it has never been easy for farmers like him to sell their produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), as government agencies do not purchase the entire produce, and local traders try to purchase the produce at prices lower than the MSP. Due to the intervention of farmers unions and organisations they have succeeded in forcing the local administration for maximum procurement at MSP. Tara Singh is soon joined by Sukhminder Singh, 52, a resident of Majhuke village and the owner of four acres of land. He has serious concerns about the purchase mechanism and prices of their produce if the newly passed agricultural Acts are implemented. They both feel that there is no way that the trade in agricultural produce outside the mandis will protect them in the way the existing APMC mechanism does. Phool Singh, 68, who is from Jind district of Haryana echoes these concerns. Waving a copy of the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 in the air, he says that all the hype about granting farmers the ‘freedom’ to sell their produce anywhere they want is not the answer to the problems the farming community faces. For one thing, there is nothing new in this ‘freedom’ under the current system too farmers can sell their produce in the mandis of the neighbouring states, if they can afford to do so. However, poor and small farmers, at present and in the future, will not be able to afford the costs of this option. Even those farmers who currently do sell some part of their produce in mandis outside their states will not be able to do so under the new laws. This is because the mandi system in these states will also cease to exist given that the government evidently wants to promote trading outside the APMC premises by waiving taxes and levies for private traders.

Farmers at the protest site. Picture: Author.

Sukhjeet Singh, 40, from Alkada village of Barnala district, could only join the protests two days earlier, as he had to finish some work on his potato fields. He is a large farmer who owns 29 acres of land and leases-in another 12 acres on annual contract for Rs 55,000 per acre. He cultivates potato on the full extent of his land except for one acre which he has reserved for wheat. This year Sukhjeet has signed a contract with two private companies for potato cultivation at the rate of Rs 900/quintal. This is much lower than what he received this March and August that was Rs 1400/quintal and Rs 3000/quintal respectively. He is not happy with the contracted price but agreed to it because at least it gave him the surety of a firm price, low though it was. He worries about raising a quality crop, as farmers in his village have incurred losses in the past when contracting companies renege on their commitments citing the poor size and quality of the potato crop. According to Sukhjeet, prices of potato in the open market fluctuate a great deal and it is difficult to predict this fluctuation. Storing the crop in cold storages in anticipation of a rise in prices is very costly, and then if prices do not rise it leads to huge losses. Sukhjeet Singh fears that the newly introduced Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, will put farmers at the mercy of corporates who will establish a complete monopoly over the purchase and prices of the produce. If the government wants to help farmers, he says, it should ensure better prices for vegetable crops, a reduction in input costs, affordable cold storage facilities, and better transportation facilities.

Widespread and Increasing Support

Support of various kinds is pouring in for the lakhs of farmers sitting on the Delhi borders. At Tikri border we saw trolleys, tankers, and other loading vehicles dispensing milk, curd, butter-milk, fresh vegetables, pulses, cooking oil and other essentials. These arrive in huge quantities from the neighbouring villages of Haryana. Some of these vehicles do rounds all through the day on the highway to refill stocks.

Punjab farmers and locals at a community kitchen run from a road side restaurant near Bahadurgarh. Picture: Author.

Volunteers preparing food at a langar at Tikri border. Picture: Author.

Sanjay, 45, a resident of Malikpur village of Jhajjar district, has been managing a langar (community kitchen) that serves around one thousand protesters and visitors every day. He says that it took them two to three days to figure out the logistics, but since then there has been no shortage of supplies. Sanjay’s village is approximately 50 kilometers from the protest site and each day the village residents make sure the supplies reach the site by 6 a.m. There are thousands of community kitchens like this in the area which serve food round the clock.

Supplies being unloaded by volunteers at a community kitchen on the outskirts on Bahadurgarh city. Picture: Author.

Ravinder Tarkhan, 30, a leader of the All India Kisan Sabha from Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan says that they were offered food, tea and snacks at different points on their way to Delhi by villagers who have been running community kitchens for those headed to the protest site. The people’s response was overwhelming, he noted.

A group of farmers cooking their meal. Picture: Author.

Help comes from various sections of society. Take Ismail Hussain’s contributions, for example. He is a resident of Uttarakhand who along with his three friends work as contractor in Gurugram city. They pooled money and bought dry rations worth Rs 25,000 which they took to the Tikri Border on Sunday morning for distribution to those farmers who cook for themselves. By 3 p.m. he still had half his vehicle full of rations, as there were no takers due to the full stocks already with farmers.

Supplies being unloaded by volunteers at a community kitchen on the outskirts on Bahadurgarh city. Picture: Author.

Contributions to the protest came in unconventional ways too. Jagpal Singh from Bhatinda brought a vehicle with a solar panel attached to charge the mobile phones of those at the protest. He said that he and a friend take 12-hour shifts to ensure the phones of those who are away from their families never go out of power.

Farmers at the solar panel mobile charging vehicle. Picture: Author.

Dr Aazad Singh, retired from the Haryana government health department and now a part of the Peoples’ Health Movement, along with his retired pharmacist colleague, runs a small medical camp near the “Metro Pillar No. 795”, a location that has become famous because of the quality of the services at the medical camp. They attend to approximately 200-300 farmers a day for various kinds of health issues, many related to infections from sitting outside in the cold. Medicines are provided free of cost. The health risks in a Covid-19 pandemic are high, and Dr. Singh says the government and local authorities need to ensure a supply of Covid-19 tests at the site.

From the main stage, which is set under the metro bridge, activists and leaders of various organisations convey their solidarity messages and speeches on issues concerning Indian agriculture and rural life in general. Cultural groups, artists and students can be seen performing songs, poetry, and plays throughout the day. Celebrities can also be seen in the crowds.

Group of professionals at the health camp. Picture: Author.

Youth cleaning the protest sight. Picture: Author.

Nearby shops and homes extend all possible help to the agitating farmers. It was clear that this was no longer a protest by farmers alone, and appears to be taking the shape of a larger and broader mass movement. Farmers from the Punjab, under the banners of various organisations, may be in the leadership of the protest at the moment, but there is an ever-increasing participation of farmers from different parts of the country, in addition to growing popular support at grassroots. This support has proven critical in running and sustaining the movement. The life-and-death fight that farmers — seen as the anna daata (food provider) of the people — are waging against the unjust agricultural laws, has awakened the moral conscience of other sections, like professionals, academics, activists, and others who are now part of the struggle.

Views expressed are personal.