Farmers’ organisations across the country that have called a 10-day ‘gaon bandh’ (village shutdown) from June 1 have urged farmers to adopt the barter system again.
“During last year’s agitation, angry farmers had emptied milk tankers and thrown vegetables on the roads. This time, leaders of the Kisan Ekta Manch and the Kisan Maha Sangh, an umbrella body of 172 farmers’ bodies, are urging them to barter their produce,” Aam Kisan Union chief Kedar Sirohi said.
Farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab and Chhattisgarh have been told to use the produce for their own use during the agitation and identify nearby villages where they can directly exchange perishable agricultural products for other goods or services.
The farmers’ bodies are also using social media to spread the messages to nearly 10 lakh farmers.
Taking lessons from last year, the M.P. government has gone on high alert. The State government has cancelled the leave of police personnel from May 25 to June 10. On Friday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a meeting attended by the Police Commissioners and IGs of 10 divisions. He reportedly told the police personnel to remain calm and ensure that law and order was not disturbed during the agitation.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is planning to address a rally in Mandsaur on June 6, the first anniversary of the police firing incident in which five farmers were killed.
