Farmers protest in Delhi: Key players, why is it happening, demands, all the details

Delhi Chalo march: Two years after they forced the Modi government to take back three farm laws after a year-long protest at Delhi’s borders, Punjab farmer unions are back with a new set of demands that includes a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops.

The decision to march to Delhi, or Delhi Chalo, was taken after talks in Chandigarh hit a stalemate. An explainer

Who are the farmers protesting?

The 2024 protest is being led by 250 farmers’ unions under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), a platform of 150 unions.

Are they same groups that protested in 2020?
No, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) is a breakaway faction of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). Jagjit Singh Dallewal, president of the Punjab-based Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur farm union, is the leader.

KMM was also not part of the main protest in 2020. It is led by Sarwan Singh Pandher, convener of the Punjab-based union Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC). 

What do the farmers want?
A law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, and setting of crop prices as per Dr M S Swaminathan Commission’s report. Other demands include:

-- Full debt waiver for farmers and labourers
 -- Implementation of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, with provisions for written consent from farmers before acquisition, and compensation at four times the collector rate
-- Punishment for the perpetrators of the October 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri killings;
-- Withdrawal from World Trade Organization (WTO) and freeze all free trade agreements;
-- Pensions for farmers and farm labourers;
-- Compensation for farmers who died during the Delhi protest, including a job for one family member;
-- Scrapping of Electricity Amendment Bill 2020
-- 200 (instead of 100) days’ employment under MGNREGA per year, daily wage of Rs 700, and scheme should be linked with farming
-- Strict penalties and fines on companies producing fake seeds, pesticides, fertilisers; improvements in seed quality;
-- National commission for spices such as chili and turmeric

What are states bordering Delhi doing?
Haryana sealed its borders with Punjab on February 8. A massive 12-layer barricade has been erected at the Shambhu Barrier on national highway 1 leading to Delhi, and multiple barricades had been set up at Fatehabad, Khanauri, Dabwali, etc. The Internet has been shut down in several districts.

Rajasthan sealed its borders with Punjab and Haryana on February 11, and imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts.

Farmers’ protest: Section 144 imposed in Delhi; borders secured with concrete blocks, barbed wires
 

Delhi has imposed a month-long ban on public meetings, along with the entry of tractors and trolleys and anything “capable of being used as weapons or tools of violence” in the city for a month. Intensive checking will take place at pickets along routes bordering the capital by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police with the latter advising commuters to utilise the metro to avoid congestion.