Over 3.5 Lakh Farmers Are Protesting At Several Delhi Borders; Mostly From Punjab, Haryana, UP
In late November, what may have been one of the largest protests in human history took place in India, as tens of thousands of farmers marched to the capital to protest the new three controversial farm laws.?
An upward of 250 million people around the subcontinent participated in a 24-hour general strike in solidarity. This massive people¡¯s movement has ever since gained attention worldwide and, moreover, forced the government to come meet the protesters where they are instead of just cracking down and brutalizing them.
As the farmers' protest enters Day 29 today, the agitation only seems to have intensified.?
How many farmers are protesting?
As on December 15, senior officers in Haryana Police said the borders can¡¯t take more people as ¡°the situation is increasingly turning unsustainable¡±. Haryana Police said more than 60,000 protesters are camping at the borders while the farmer leaders said the figure is higher.
Farmer union Kisan Sena said 20,000 of its members from western Uttar Pradesh will march to Delhi on Thursday (today) in support of the Centre's new agriculture laws.??
On December 21, Farmers under All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)?banner too left Maharashtra's Nashik for Delhi as part of a vehicle march.?Around 3,000 farmers slated to reach the Delhi borders today, participated in the march on Monday, and a day later?7,000 additional farmers joined the procession?in solidarity with the agitating farmers in the capital.? ?
As per a report by Firstpost, the first group of farmers stopped for the night at Chandvad, a place 40 kilometres away from Nashik. The demonstrators travelled in around 250 vehicles, covering 1,266 km across states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
On November 30, India Today estimated that between 2,00,000 and 3,00,000 farmers were converging at various border points on the way to Delhi.
The recent influx of farmers is set to raise the number of agitating farmers on the highways to an estimated 3,50,000 from across India, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.?
Where have the farmers camped?
The farmers are camped at various borders across Delhi.?Two national highways, Delhi-Ambala and Delhi-Hisar, are blocked and anyone wanting to enter Delhi has to travel several kilometres via link roads through villages.?
The Singhu and Tikri borders where thousands of farmers are protesting continue to remain closed while one carriageway at the Chilla (Delhi-Noida link road) border is open for vehicles entering Delhi from Noida. Additionally, commuters face problems commuting from Delhi to Ghaziabad due to closure of both carriageways on Delhi-Meerut Expressway by protesting farmers on Tuesday.?
The march from UP will have members joining from the Braj area, which includes districts like Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Hathras and also have supporters joining from Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in western UP, the union said.
"We have written to the authorities concerned for permission regarding our march to Delhi but have not got reply. In any case, around 20,000 of Kisan Sena supporters will be en route to Delhi to meet Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday," Kisan Sena convener Thakur Gauri Shankar Singh told news agency PTI.
"We want to meet the minister and inform him that the ongoing protests on Delhi's borders by unions from Punjab and Haryana no doubt comprise farmers but they do not represent farmers of all India or other states like UP," Singh said.
What's the issue?
Thousands of farmers are currently camped outside Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the three new farm laws - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.??
They have expressed apprehension that these laws will pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations. However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.
