Farmers Movement Archive

Farm protest: Thousands of Uttarakhand farmers to reach Delhi

RUDRAPUR: Thousands of farmers from the Terai region-- popular as “rice bowl” of the hill state comprising Udham Singh Nagar district and parts of Nainital and Champawat-- left for Delhi on Thursday and were hopeful of hitting the protest ground by Friday morning. Some were expecting to reach much earlier. Another 2,000 Uttarakhand farmers, who were stopped by UP Police near Rampur on November 26, were also allowed to proceed on Thursday. Among the unions participating in the protest are Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an alliance of farmers groups like the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKS), All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), and various factions of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). One of the farmer leaders recalled how Mahendra Singh Tikait had “bought the Rajiv Gandhi government to its knees”. “Five lakh farmers had staged a protest in Delhi for seven days in 1988 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Tikait, compelling the then Rajiv Gandhi government at the Centre to accept their demands. As more and more farmers from Terai are going to Delhi, we will force the current government to withdraw the contentious bills,” said Jagir Singh, block president of BKU in Jaspur. Another farmer leader Vikramjit Singh Vicky from Bigwada village said, “We will not relent until these laws are withdrawn. These bills have been brought to destroy the agricultural sector and to help the corporates.” The three laws -- the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- that the farmers are protesting against were given a nod by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 27.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Dehradun