Punjab DIG Resigns In Support Of Protests As Farmers Decide To Go On Hunger Strike Tomorrow

Punjab deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Lakhminder Singh Jakhar resigned from service in support of farmers who are protesting Centre's contentious new farm laws.

Lakhminder Jakhar said he tendered his resignation to the Punjab government on Saturday.

According to ANI, Punjab DIG (Prisons) Lakhminder Singh Jakhar wrote to State Principal Secy Home tendering his resignation. He said, "I'd like to inform you of my considered decision to stand with my farmer brothers who're peacefully protesting against the farm laws."

Farmers to block Delhi-Jaipur Highway

According to reports, farmers will block the Delhi-Jaipur highway tomorrow, taking the stir to the next level as the protests today entered day 17.

The farmers¡¯ unions have announced they are going to intensify their agitation against the controversial agriculture laws and said that their union leaders will sit on a hunger strike on December 14.

Agencies

¡°If the government wants to hold talks, we are ready, but our main demand will remain the scrapping of the three new farm laws. We will move onto our other demands only after that,¡± farmer leader Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu said at Singhu border.

He also added that thousands of farmers will start their ¡®Delhi Chalo¡¯ march from Rajasthan¡¯s Shahjahanpur through the Jaipur-Delhi Highway at 11 am on Sunday.

Hundreds of women join protests

As their husbands, sons and brothers leave home to demand a rollback of the Centre¡¯s new agri laws, many women are joining them too, making the trip from village towards the national capital even if for only a few days at a time.

"The profession of farming is not defined by gender. Our fields don¡¯t produce crops differently if tended by women and men. Many male farmers are here protesting. Why should we sit at home?¡± asked 53-year-old Mandeep Kaur, a farmer from Ludhiana who refuses to be stereotyped into any one role.

AFP

Mandeep¡¯s companion on the five-hour bus ride from Ludhiana to Singhu was her neighbour Sukhwinder Kaur. The 68-year-old widow said she was tired of sitting at home while the men in her family were out protesting, and decided she needed to come down, even if it was for a short visit.

The farmers, with help from various organisations and generous donors, have pulled out all the stops to sustain their agitation.

Arrangements for laundry service, and medical facilities, including regular health check ups and a dental camp, have also been taken care of.