Farmers’ protest 2024 updates | Farmers to hold dharnas across 4 States

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) took out a tractor march in Haryana while BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) held dharnas outside the residences of three senior BJP leaders in support of the protesting farmers.

Haryana-based Gurnam Singh Charuni-led faction took out tractor marches at several places, including Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Sirsa.

While talking to the press, Mr. Charuni said his organisation support the demands raised by the agitating farmers. He said a ‘mahapanchayat’ of farm organisations, and labour and sarpanch unions will be held on Sunday to chalk out their course of action to support the protesting farmers.

In Punjab, the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) held dharnas outside the residences of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in Patiala, BJP’s Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar in Abohar and senior party leader Kewal Singh Dhillon in Barnala.

The farmer body also held protests at 21 toll plazas in 13 districts in the State and extended their support to the farmers. --- PTI

Farm union leaders are seeking guarantees, backed by law, a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. 

The government announces support prices for more than 20 crops each year to set a benchmark, but state agencies buy only rice and wheat at the support level, benefiting around just 7% of farmers. 

Farm policy experts argue that buying all farm produce at state-set minimum support prices is economically unviable.

Now that the farmers’ protest has entered the fifth day, let’s find out who is a farmer? Farmer leaders and researchers point out that the definition of a farmer is not merely a philosophical or semantic question, but rather has practical implications. 

Vegetable prices in Delhi could be headed for a rise as farmers’ protests disrupt supply chains, according to a trader at Ghazipur Mandi as the farmers’ protests continued for the fifth day. A vegetable trader at Ghazipur mandi said, “The price of carrots has gone up by ₹4 in the last 15 days after supply from Punjab was disrupted following farmers’ protest. This could lead to a rise in the price of vegetables. This issue between the farmers and the government should end soon.” 

However, another trader at the market offered a more optimistic outlook, stating that there has been no immediate impact on vegetable prices so far. “There is no impact on the prices of vegetables currently. If protests continue and there are more road blockages, then the supply of vegetables from UP, Ganganagar, Pune, etc. may get affected leading to a possible hike in the price of some vegetables,” he said.

A vegetable seller in Ghazipur further corroborated the current stability in prices, confirming that trucks carrying vegetables are arriving in Delhi on schedule without any disruptions. “The trucks carrying vegetables are reaching Delhi on time without any disruptions till now. The vegetable prices have not been affected so far,” said a vegetable seller at the Ghazipur wholesale market. — ANI

The scenes of farmers and agriculture workers protesting at Delhi’s borders are a throwback to 2020-21: long lines of about 1,000 trolleys attached to brightly-coloured tractors, large dekchis of sweet chai boiling on wood-fuelled stoves to serve hundreds, voices of peacefully organised dissent. In this time’s Delhi Chalo call, though, police and paramilitary forces are ‘better prepared’: on Day 1 of the protest that began on February 13, concrete barricades, 10-12 layers deep, were in place; nearly 4,500 tear gas shells were fired to disperse gatherings on the Haryana-Punjab border, most using drones; the number of Delhi Police personnel swelled to 6,000.

Read here

Hiralal, Sub-Inspector in Haryana Railway Police (GRP), who was posted at the Shambhu border following the farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, passed away at the age of 52, Haryana police said.According to the police, Sub-Inspector Hiralal’s health suddenly deteriorated while on duty. He was immediately taken to Ambala Civil Hospital but despite all the efforts of the doctors, he could not be saved. ANI

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher demanded that the Centre should bring an ordinance on giving a legal guarantee to MSP, a key demand of farmers currently camping at the Shambhu and the Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border.

The demand comes a day before the fourth round of talks between farm leaders and Union Ministers over their various demands.

“If it (Centre) brings out an ordinance, it can bring it overnight, if it wants to. If the government wants a resolution of the farmers’ protest, then it should bring an ordinance with immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussions can proceed further,” Mr. Pandher told reporters at the Shambhu border.

PTI

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and described the government as a ‘curse’ for the country’s farmers.Mr. Kharge also accused the government of treating farmers like enemies. Mr. Kharge asserted that only the Congress party can provide farmers with the legal right to a Minimum Support Price (MSP). PTI

Even as protesting farmers from Punjab continued to camp near different locations on the inter-state boundaries with Haryana on Thursday, another round of meetings between farmer representatives and Union Ministers would be now held on February 18, after ‘positive’ discussions were held between Centre-farmers in the meeting concluded on the intervening night of Thursday-Friday.

Read more