Farmers’ “Bharat Bandh” brings focus on Bihar’s revoked APMC Act

Bharat Bandh shuts down large parts of the country
Farmers’ imbroglio thickens with support pouring in from foreign soils
Home Minister Amit Shah meets select group of farmers 

By DK Sinha & Venkatesh Raghavan

Patna/New Delhi: The Bharat Bandh, called by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of 500 farmer organisations, on Tuesday, evoked mixed response in Bihar. While several railway tracks, highways and roads were closed, Opposition parties led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and former Member of Parliament and Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav came in support and forced shopkeepers to shut down their shops and threw tyres of vehicles which were plying on the road.

The lukewarm response to Bharat Bandh once again brought in focus the Nitish government’s decision to  repeal the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act in Bihar in 2006 months after assuming chief ministership (in 2005). Since then, farmers have been struggling to find a favourable market for their produce.

Also read:  The ongoing agitation has opened up the underbelly of the farming sector to a common man

In view of this, majority of farmers in the state, who have harvested their paddy crop this season are forced to sell their produce at rates much below the Minimum Support Price of Rs 1,868 per quintal in open market. The reason is mainly attributed to the delayed and slow procurement by the state government’s nodal procurement agency, Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS).

Sources said 793 MT paddy has been procured – against the target of 30 lakh MT.

On an average, the state grows around 1.60 crore MT paddy every year, out of which the government procures around 30 lakh MT paddy. In 2019-20, however, it procured a little over 20 lakh MT paddy from over 27 lakh farmers.

Farmers are selling the paddy for Rs. 800-Rs. 1,200 per quintal in open market, although the MSP is Rs 1,868 per quintal, as the procurement process is yet to begin in their areas.

The recent controversy about India’s newly minted farm laws have brought back into focus what Nitish Kumar did a decade-and-a-half ago: Shutting down the mandi (wholesale markets for agricultural produce) system in 2006.

Ever since the APMC Act was repealed in 2006, farmers are left with no option other than selling their produce to private procurers, several times at throwaway prices. The Opposition accuses Nitish government of turning farming into a non-viable profession in Bihar over time. “Farmers from Bihar have now been working as labourers in Punjab and Haryana,” it alleges.

Security was tightened across the country and mainly in Delhi with heavy police at the Delhi Borders to control the violence. However farmer leaders said that they did not force anyone to join the protest and the protest was in a peaceful manner.

In New Delhi, even as the pressure mounted on the Centre to resolve the imbroglio created by the farmers  protesting against the three agriculture bills passed in parliament recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah waved an olive branch seeking to have a meeting with a delegation from the protestors to bring about an amicable solution. The farmers are to meet the government for the crucial sixth round of meeting tomorrow but tonight, Shah’s meeting with 13 farmer leaders including eight from Punjab to break the impasse, apparently created a discord among the farmers’ organisations with Joginder Singh Ugrahan, leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), who was not invited to the talks, taking to social media to express his views that there was no need for the talks before official consultations. He said he hoped that the leaders attending today’s meet would keep in mind the view of the larger group. The farmer leaders who met Shah also included Rakesh Tikait of Bharatiya Kisan Union as well as Hannan Mollah of the All India Kisan Sabha.

The Centre was faced with pressure that was precipitated by blockage of all highways and rail traffic headed towards the capital by the protesting farmers who had earlier given a “Bharat Bandh” call.

However, the resolution seems nowhere in sight currently, as leaders of different farmer groups have unanimously voiced that they will not settle for anything short of total repeal of all the three farm bills that were passed in parliament. The farmers and their spokesperson unanimously claim that the laws would result in a heavy loss of revenue and transfer control of the commercial transactions into the hands of big corporate houses. 

The agitation which till yesterday was restricted to picketing outside the borders of the national capital region, today took the form of blockage of traffic routes and closure of markets in the northern and western belts of the country. The farmers’ stir is increasingly finding support from foreign soils where there are a large number of Sikhs present.

After the Canadian Prime Minister expressed solidarity backed by a team of Sikh members of parliament, giving rise to diplomatic furore in New Delhi, Sikh protesters in London gave a tough time to Scotland Yard as the cops were taxed to keep the gathering numbers to a maximum of 30, in view of the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. 

The call for strike given by farmers had its genesis in Punjab with the ruling Congress disposition backing the farming community fully, and subsequently farmers from other bordering northern states and western regions like Rajasthan and Gujarat too participated in the agitation. Towards the ending of the previous week, the agitation had taken a new twist with foreign media and also dignitaries belonging to their respective governments voicing concern over the Centre’s reported apathy towards the Indian farming community. 

Though directly of no consequence or likelihood of mounting international pressure, the Indian government is seen to be keen to hold talks and arrive at an amicable resolutions. The agricultural ministry has expressed the view that there is no question of repealing any of the laws. It however, noted that they may agree to bring in amendments to all the three bills that have been passed to enable farmers to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. 

In the meantime, in Delhi, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was placed under house arrest by the Delhi Police, which the latter denied. 

Farmers stopped trains in Odisha and Maharashtra during the bandh call while workers of Congress and left parties blocked several railway tracks and sat on the roads to protest in West Bengal in support of farmers. In Hyderabad, Osmania University postponed all its examinations. Protests and rallies were held in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli in several regions which also touched Puducherry and included parties like Congress, CPI(M) and DMK which took part in it.

Section 144 was imposed in all rural areas of Lucknow also the authorities had banned gathering along protest in Uttar Pradesh and in Karnataka too, normal life got affected as in some of the parts as farmers and workers came and sit on roads along with many organisations that are in support of farmers in Bharat Bandh.

– with Ananya Sharma in New Delhi