Farmers Movement Archive

Women march at par in farmers protest

A large number of women from Punjab have been marching along with farmers towards Delhi to protest against the Centre’s three agriculture laws.The farmers are staying put at the Tikri (Bahadurgarh) and Singhu (Sonepat) borders between Haryana and Delhi with thousands more set to join them and their leaders yet to take a call on shifting to the Burari ground, a place earmarked for their agitation by police. Most women activists affiliated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) are moving in tractor-trolleys driven by young farmers. The trolleys have mobile charging facilities, blankets, warm clothes and carpets. The women, most aged 40 or above, are in separate tractor-trolleys.HT travelled with a group of these women activists from the outskirts of Rohtak to Sampla. The women farmers get up early in the morning by 5:30am and prepare tea for protesters before starting their journey towards Delhi. At around 1:00pm, they prepare lunch and the dinner is provided by Haryana farmers mostly since last two days.Joginder, BKU (Ughran) Mansa chief, said over 40,000 women activists have joined their protest against the Centre’s three farm laws. “The women farmers will hold demonstrations with us till the government takes back these laws. We are moving towards Delhi with arrangements of essential commodities,” he added.Gurjeet Kaur, a woman farmer from Mansa district, said she along with other women has been a part of the agitation for the last two months. “We had started our journey on Thursday. These farm laws will affect us deeply. I, along with my grandson, are participating in this agitation. We will hold demonstrations until the government takes back these laws,” she said.Another woman farmer, Satpal Kaur, said her family cultivates crop on three acres of land. “This fight is for the entire farming community. Whenever we need money to pay the school fee of children or if someone falls ill, we used to take the help of arhitiya (commission agent). However, after the implementation of these laws, private players will come into play. Our permanent ATM (referring to Arhitiya) will be ended and we would have no source of money in a serious situation,” she added.Another woman Palo Kaur said,“It is better to die due to Covid-19 rather than poverty. We will observe a dharna at the Tikri border till our demands are met. We want to make it clear that no one can end the MSP and mandi system in Punjab. I have joined the protest with my son ,who is pursuing MPhil. Instead of creating jobs for our children, the government has brought these laws to snatch our lands. The government has no plan to tackle stubble burning, drug abuse and unemployment but they come up with these laws to drive the rural economy into distress.”

Hindustan Times

28-11-2020

City