Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers protest: Arrangements afoot for stay of more protesters

PATIALA: As a large number of farmers are expected to move towards Delhi borders on Saturday and Sunday following a call given by BKU (Ekta Ugraha) on the completion of one month of ‘Delhi Chalo’, those camping at the sites are making arrangements for temporary stay and toilets for more participants. On Thursday, a group of farmers from Mohali and Patiala had made arrangements for temporary stay for around 1,000 participants at Tikri border. Sleeping arrangement included beddings and quilts for more than 500 persons. “We arranged tents, beddings, quilts, water bottles and other things for more than 500 persons. The temporary provisions can cater to around 1,000 people,” said a farmer’s son and an economist. “In states like Bihar, where NDA has been in power for 15 years, farmers are forced to sell produce at 50% discount on MSP. If the government implements MSP across the country, farmers will get a fair price (still not as per Swaminathan report) but it will increase the rural incomes by 70-80%, which will be the ‘greatest rural stimulus package’ as nearly 60% of India’s population is agri-dependent. Consequently, it will spur rural demand and accelerate nation-wide growth and the GDP rate will exceed 10%. If the government starts buying other crops like maize, barley, bajra, oilseeds, dals and so on at MSP, farmers will automatically switch to these crops which will ensure crop diversification,” he added. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Rajpal, who is overseeing the arrangements at Tikri border, said, “Starting Friday, a number of farmers from Mohali are to reach here and a group has made arrangements for their night stay. It is a mass movement and the farmers who are already here are also making arrangements for temporary toilets near the highway.” A twitter handle Kisan Ekta March on Thursday also shared a video of farmers making toilet arrangements at Delhi borders.

The Times of India

2020-12-26

Chandigarh