Farmer Protests 2.0: Is There an End in Sight?

Farmers from Punjab want a legal backing for minimum support prices. Their protest is now 11 months old

- Sayantan Bera

It was past afternoon, but the winter fog hung like a shroud over national highway-52, at the Khanauri border crossing between Punjab and Haryana. Since February last year, thousands of farmers from Punjab have occupied the highway after they were stopped from entering Haryana and marching ahead to Delhi. The winter chill, worsened by strong winds and occasional showers, cast a pall of gloom. But the elements seem to have done little to erode the resolve of protesting farmers.

This is farmer protest 2.0. During the first one, which began in November 2020 amid the covid-19 pandemic, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh stormed into the doorstep of the national capital Delhi. Their demand was to withdraw a clutch of laws enacted by the federal government earlier that year, aiming to liberalize rules governing agriculture markets and trade. The proposition of greater private sector involvement in the purchase, processing, and marketing of crops spooked farmers, who feared the laws would weaken existing minimum support price (MSP) based purchases. In November 2021, the Centre relented and withdrew the three contentious laws.

A new round of agitation began last year demanding that the government provide a legal backing to MSP. Every year, the government announces MSP on 23 non-perishable crops, but purchase at assured prices is largely limited to rice and wheat, which is supplied under the free food scheme.

On the face of it, the second round of protests appears to be a low-key affair—it lacks the exuberance and opulence of the previous protest sites at Singhu and Tikri entry points to Delhi with its health camps, massage joints, pizza and noodle stalls, and langars (community kitchens) that fed all and sundry. The facilities at Khanauri are modest, but the mood is stern.