Can you imagine your survival without food? What would happen if your basic needs of living are not fulfilled? Perhaps you would be more prone to exploitation or end up committing suicide. Now, imagine the country without peasants and farmers? From where would you get your food? Don’t you think we all are dependent on them for our living?

Think again!

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian Economy, and farmer’s movements are not new to the Indian scenario. For ages, there has been exploitation of peasants and sharecroppers by the zamindars of the Indian society. Even after the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s, and reforms initiated by several state governments(like Operation Borga in West Bengal in the 1970s), peasants and small farmers are yet to topple their suppression from the hands of large Indian financial powers. The farmer’s Bill of 2020 passed in the month of September worsened the situation for them, and have put the daily living of the peasants and farmers at stake. Certainly like death warrants.

The three new Agricultural Bills passed this year by the Central government i.e., the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce Bill 2020, Farmer’s Assurance and Farm Services Bills 2020, and the Essential Commodities Bill 2020, can provide passage to the corporate companies to shift the majority of the Indian population into urban occupations in the name of globalization and privatization, thereby narrowing scopes of the agricultural economy, and finally importing foreign produces corollary to which, the domestic farmers would be exploited more and more. Written contracts are not made compulsory under this law. It essentially leaves a threat upon the farmers in case of violation of the trade agreement by the private traders. Perhaps, the central government has been able to provide the farmers with smartphones to strengthen their connection. Alas! The government failed to provide the farmers with initial space of security and basic market education to access the gadgets and negotiate the prices of the products in the wholesale market. Yes, governmental set up like the State Mandi boards, Food Corporation of India, and the Agricultural Cost and Prices Commission was created for a reason. It helped the peasants and farmers of small villages to sell them produce under Minimum Support Price, which has been wiped out from the recent scenario until any natural calamities.

The hope of a short-term increase in the farmer’s income would not fall in place in the long run, hugely because the corporates and traders are way more efficient to negotiate their own suits of prices in comparison to an individual farmer.

The irony of the ‘One-Nation, One-Market’ theory is that the one nation it speaks of- India, is comprised of numerous villages that are not well linked to the urban markets with the simultaneous greater expense of transportation. Parallel to this, the revocation of restrictions on the storage of food grains might as well lead to black marketing and hoarding.

Thousands of farmers are still in the streets protesting against these draconian laws even during the time of the pandemic. Myriads of workers, students, and youths have also come forward to support the cause. The left and other democratic forces are in a continuous process of agitation throughout the country. The purpose of this struggle is as clear as water. We need to secure our basic needs, and thus need to ensure the safety of its providers. Like always, the farmers have been stopped and obstructed in numerous ways. Despite all the obstructions, the streets have shown the alternative. Like in Bengali it says, “জলকামানের বুকে দাঁড়িয়ে, মেহনতি মানুষের ভুখাপেট….আগামীর রাজপথ তোমাদের… ভেঙে দাও শাসকের ব্যারিকেড…”

All the farmers of the country united as they have nothing to lose but their crops…