Farm unions said they would be forced to resume their agitation if the Union government failed to fulfil its written commitments on withdrawal of cases against protestors, compensation for those who died during the agitation and the establishment of a committee on minimum support prices (MSP), according to a memorandum submitted by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday.
The unions observed January 31 as ‘vishwasghat diwas’ (day of betrayal) with protests in various districts.
While announcing the repeal of the three agrarian reform laws in November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to set up a committee to discuss the farmers’ demand of a legal guarantee on MSPs, as well as crop diversification and other issues.
On December 9, the SKM suspended its year-long agitation on the borders of Delhi on the basis of a written assurance from the Agriculture Ministry that their cases would be withdrawn with immediate effect, compensation would be disbursed, and an MSP committee set up with farm leaders’ representatives.
‘Assurances not fulfilled’
“Once again the farmers of the country have been cheated. The Government of India has not fulfilled any of the assurances in its letter dated 9th December,” said the memo to the President. “If the government reneges on its written assurance, the farmers would be left with no option but to resume their agitation,” it warned.
“The reality is that the government has neither announced the formation of the committee on this issue, nor has given any information about the nature of the committee and its mandate,” said the memo.
It noted that no action had been taken to withdraw cases by the Union government, which holds jurisdiction in Delhi, or by the governments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. In fact, farmers were constantly getting court summons in these cases, said the SKM. Only the Haryana government had issued some orders to withdraw cases. Regarding compensation, the U.P. government had not initiated any action, while Haryana was yet to announce the amount and nature of compensation.
The SKM also raised fresh issues, including ongoing negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with Australia, which the unions say will threaten the existence of dairy farmers, and new regulations on genetically modified food.
