Farmers Movement Archive

After handling farm and home, women reinforce stir

Forty-two-year-old Kavita Singh reached the Singhu border on Saturday after holding down the fort back home in Haryana for over a month while her husband protested in Delhi for the repeal of the three controversial farm laws. A resident of Bhiwani district, Ms. Singh said: “All these days we were back home. This is the first time that I have been able to come to the Singhu border for the protest. All our relatives, especially the men, have been at the protest since the first day. Now that they have gone back for a few days to water the fields, we have got the chance to come here.” Ms. Singh is among several women protesters who have been working on the fields — while managing household chores — for over a month, and taking part in the agitation whenever their relatives returned to the village. Several women explained how they have been attending the protest in a rotational manner so that work on the fields continued unabated ahead of the harvest season. Sarabhjit Kaur, 68, who reached the Singhu border from Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib two days ago, said: “There was a lot to do at home over the last few weeks. While most of the farmers are here protesting, several others are also required to stay back to take care of the fields. There are household chores to be done as well. This week, some of the people who had been here since the beginning have gone back and so, I decided to join the protest in their absence.” The farmers who have remained at the Capital’s borders for over a month now have been demanding a legal guarantee of the Minimum Support Price system and have reiterated that they will not move an inch till their demands are met. Residents of Punjab’s Patiala, Sukhwinder Kaur and Balwinder Kaur said that “unity” among relatives and neighbours ensured that all the fields were equally tended to when the people concerned were away to participate in the protest. Unity and trust “We come here quite often and are usually alternating with other members of the family. There is enough unity between neighbours and we follow a rotational basis. This ensures that when we are here they can look after our fields and when we go back we do the same for their fields. There is trust among all,” said Sukhwinder. Meanwhile, coming to the Singhu border with langar is a weekly affair for Rajwant Kaur Bassi and a group of 16 others. “We come to the border every weekend and bring langar with us. Apart from the trolleys that have already come from our villages, we are a group of 15-20 people who make sure to come here. For the rest of the week, we are the ones managing the fields. Now with Lohri around, even though it is a festival of happiness, we really have nothing to celebrate this year. How can we celebrate under these circumstances?” said Ms. Bassi. While several of the farmers are attending the protest on a rotational basis, for some like 55-year-old Jasmeet Kaur, participating in the protest has meant losses on the farm as there is a lack of manpower back home. “While I own two acres of land, who will work on it? Both my son and husband have passed away and I have a granddaughter to take care of. Despite a lot of losses, I will continue to stay here till the laws are repealed. If the laws are not repealed, I will have nothing to go back to as it is going to affect us adversely,” said Jasmeet, a resident of Ludhiana. Mamta Kadyan, a resident of Haryana’s Jhajjar district, said that this year there was a “no profit, no loss scenario”. “Our forefathers have always told us to fight for our rights and that is exactly what we are doing. There is a huge possibility that we will not get the returns that we usually get from our farms, but this year there’s a larger battle that we are fighting. We will not move till the laws are repealed,” said Ms. Kadyan, who has been at the Dhansa border since the first day and visited the Singhu border for the first time on Saturday. Our forefathers told us to fight for our rights and that is what we are doing. There is a possibility that we will not get the returns that we usually get from our farms, but this year there’s a larger battle that we are fighting. We will not move till the laws are repealed Mamta Kadyan Resident of Haryana’s Jhajjar district

The Hindu

2021-01-10

NEW DELHI