Farmers protest highlights: Railway tracks blocked in Punjab; Delhi Police procure 30,000 tear gas shells

During the ongoing demonstrations at the Punjab-Haryana border, farmers blocked some railway tracks in Punjab today. Reports say protesters from Rajpura, Patiala, sat on rail tracks and blocked trains at the Rajpura Railway Station. The development happened after the farm unions Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) (Ekta Ugrahan) and BKU Dakaunda (Dhaner) declared 'rail roko' (rail blockade) in the state, announcing their intention to occupy rail tracks at seven locations from 12 noon to 4 pm.

Simultaneously, Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai are scheduled to engage in another round of discussions with farmer leaders later in the day. The talks, set to take place in Chandigarh, will encompass various farmer demands, prominently including the implementation of a law ensuring a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The primary demand articulated by the protesting farmers is the introduction of legislation securing a minimum support price (MSP) for their crops. Additional key demands involve the annulment of the Electricity Act 2020, compensation for farmers who lost lives in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh, and the withdrawal of legal actions against individuals involved in the farmers' movement during the 2020-21 agitation.

Security forces in Haryana employed tear gas against a gathering of thousands of farmers at the Shambhu border, marking the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march. The demonstration turned confrontational as law enforcement intervened, and clashes erupted when groups attempted to breach barricades. Anticipating a potential influx of protesters, the Delhi Police has procured over 30,000 tear gas shells to thwart farmers from entering the national capital during their 'Dilli Chalo' protest.

Some protesters responded by throwing stones at security personnel. In response to the escalating situation, law enforcement deployed a drone to monitor the protesters.

The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has proposed a formula, known as ‘C2+50%’, which suggests that the MSP should be at least 50% higher than the weighted average cost of production, aiming to ensure farmers receive a 50% return.

“The Modi Govt. did not implement MSP@C2+50% for farmers during the last 10 years. 1,00,474 farmers committed suicide during the Modi years of 2014-2022- death of 27 farmers per day. But Ambani’s Reliance Group asset shoot up from ₹1,67,000 Crore in 2014 to ₹8,03,000 Crore in 2022 under Modi Raj,” SKM says in a statement.

Furthermore, SKM says the push for digitising agriculture conceals a corporate agenda, citing collaborations between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and multinational agribusinesses like Bayer and Amazon Kisan.