Mint Explainer: Why farmers continue to protest despite a govt offer
Delhi Chalo march on Wednesday. After four rounds of negotiations with the union government failed to yield results, the Shambhu border crossing between Punjab and Haryana looks set for a faceoff between protestors and police forces today morning. The first rounds of tear gas shells were fired by police forces around noon.
The farmer protests come on the backdrop of subdued agricultural production following repeated climate shocks including uneven rainfall last year. Farm incomes were also hit by export curbs announced by the government to tame local consumer prices. For farmers, who were promised that their incomes will be doubled by 2022—as per a government set target—the crisis of profitability has translated into a rallying cry for revamp of the minimum support price (MSP) regime.
During negotiations on the night of 18 February, the government offered an alternative to the farmers’ demand to make support prices a legal right. Farm unions rejected the ‘limited’ offer and began preparations for the Delhi march. The Centre offered to purchase five crops—three varieties of pulses such as tur, moong and urad, plus maize and cotton—at MSP for the next five years, under a contract farming arrangement.
The scheme was offered after farm unions said during talks that guaranteed support prices on crops other than rice and wheat will help them to transition to less water intensive and more soil-friendly crops like pulses. Currently, Punjab is facing a groundwater crisis with water tables depleting fast due to rice cultivation. Farm unions rejected the offer saying it will only help those who switch from rice to these alternative crops, but not available to farmers who are already growing pulses and cotton.
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