With the agitating farmers communicating to the Supreme Court that their leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal will call off his indefinite hunger strike if the Union government invited them to a discussion on their long-pending agenda, it is now up to the government to take the initiative for talks and pave the way towards ending a year-long agitation.
The government should not ideally have a quarrel with the farmers’ demands which include a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops, debt relief and withdrawal of cases lodged against farmers during the earlier edition of the agitation. In December 2021, the then NDA government had actually assured them that steps would be taken towards their fulfilment after repealing the three controversial farm laws. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promised to double farmer income to the finance minister who listed various measures for farmers in the annual Budget, the theme of farmer welfare has never gone missing from the government’s agenda.
It is a shame, therefore, that the farmers have been agitating on the Punjab-Haryana border for almost a year now over these issues that are in fact critical to their survival. The government announces MSP ahead of every crop season but at present is not under an obligation to do so. The farmers argue that a legal framework on MSP would alleviate their fears and introduce a sense of surety. The demand for debt relief should cost the exchequer but history has shown that such pro-farmer measures will introduce more vibrancy in the rural economy which will have a cascading effect on other sectors.
It is a paradox that the major mediator in this agitation is the Supreme Court of India while the decision should ideally be the result of a direct conversation between the farmers and the government. The farmers’ group has now offered the government an opportunity to play its legitimate role and it must honour this trust.
