On the Farmers’ Movement

Abstract

The special issues on the farmers are a product of a very particular vision on the part of a group of individuals engaged with the issue to offer a platform highlighting the massive resistance to the recently passed farm laws by the government of India, a resistance in which the Punjabi farmers occupy a prominent space. The farmers fear that the new laws, passed in September 2020, will eliminate the minimum guaranteed price for agricultural produce – commonly referred to as minimum support price (MSP) – despite the government’s assurances to the contrary; permit stockpiling of agricultural produce by corporations; and expand contract farming without much in the way of safeguards for the farmers. According to the farmers, the new laws will only serve to accelerate their impoverishment, with far reaching impacts on the socio-cultural-political fabric of the Punjab. Resistance to the laws emerged on the Indian national scene in late November 2020, although it had been ongoing in Punjab since the introduction of the central government’s ordinances on June 5, 2020, which preceded the parliamentary passage of the reforms as new laws. Almost half a year later, the movement continues to thrive without any sign of the farmers relenting. Their demand stands as is – “kaale kanoon rad karo” or “take back the black laws!”