Ghazipur border (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh)
Most of the agitating farmers camped out at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border are from western Uttar Pradesh, known for its large tracts of sugarcane farms. So, there was speculation that the Ghazipur flank of the agitation may weaken as farmers had to return to their fields in time for the sugarcane harvest. But, according to the farmers and their leaders, they have found a way to tend to the crops and, at the same time, keep up the protests against the agri laws.
“One village-one tractor, fifteen farmers and ten days. We have adopted this formula,” was Abhijit Balyan, a 25-year-old farmer’s cryptic explanation to Gaon Connection.
Blowing smoke from his hookah, Satyabrahma Singh Tomar, from Kasimpur Khedi in Baghpat, explained the mysterious formula. It meant that 15 farmers from each village would be present at the agitation for 10 days after which they would return to their village and be replaced by the next lot of 15 farmers. Each village would station one tractor at the protest site.
“The farmers have realised a sense of community. One or two farmers from each household will continue to participate in the dharna,” he said. They will take turns to sit in the protests. “Those farmers whose tractors are at the protest site will not be affected as others in the village will harvest their crop and help them,” Tomar explained.
The national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Rakesh Tikait had declared that in the current year, farmers would not sell their crops to the government but would harvest only what is required to sustain themselves.
In response, some farmers in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana even destroyed their crops. Yogendra Ahlawat, a farmer from Bhainsi village in Muzaffarnagar, said he mowed down his two-acres of standing wheat.
“During the lockdown, we mowed down the cauliflower, sunflower and cabbage crops in our fields because there was no sale. When we can withstand that loss, a sacrifice towards the agitation is not a big deal,” said Balyan.
However, Tikait appealed to the farmers to not mow down their crops. He said the call was to ensure cultivation activities do not hinder the agitation. Tikait reiterated that it is unacceptable for even one crop to be sacrificed. Instead, he urged every village to form committees to oversee cultivation on behalf of the agitators.
The agitating farmers are aware that they will face some loss of income on account of the time they are spending at the agitation, away from their fields.
“This battle is not just for this year, but it is for the crops of the years to come,” Harsha Dhaka, a farmer from Moradabad, told Gaon Connection. Farmers will have to brave the risk of a financial setback to move ahead with their agitation, he acknowledged, but said they were working their way around it. “If what I am wearing now costs two thousand rupees, I shall spend only five hundred rupees on clothes this year,” he reasoned.
“Debts due to the interruption in agricultural activities for the last several months are collateral damage. But it will secure the future of farmers,” said 80-year-old Satbir from Hathchhoya village.
Weathering challenges
The farmers’ agitation that began on the borders of the national capital on November 26 will soon complete three months. The protestors have already endured the worst of the winter and say they are gearing up to brave the blistering summer as well.
Several trolleys carting coolers and water tankers from Punjab and Haryana have been spotted at the other protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Shahjahanpur. Even in Ghazipur, farmers are arranging for logistics to counter the summer months. “People of my village have collected money to send me a cooler,” Gaurav Chahal, a farmer from Amroha, told Gaon Connection. “If the cooler doesn’t provide relief, I will arrange an air conditioner for myself,” he said.
With the rise in temperature, farmers on the Ghazipur border, who were earlier positioned on the flyover connecting Delhi and Ghaziabad on NH-24, have now shifted beneath the flyover.
“During the heat of the day, we will sleep under this flyover and in the cooler evenings, above it,” Upendra Tomar, a farmer from Baghpat, laughed.
Farmers are used to the vagaries of weather, said Sant Ram Kushwaha, a farmer from Pilibhit district in Uttar Pradesh. “We deal with seasonal changes all the time as we farm and will not be deterred by the hot summers,” he said.
Farmers upset at improper pricing of sugarcane
While the farmers’ agitation has focussed largely on matters relating to paddy and wheat, the sugarcane farmers of western Uttar Pradesh are deeply discontent about the state government not increasing the price of sugarcane. Sugarcane farmer Gaurav Chahal said that he had sold 1,500 quintals of sugarcane last year, but had received payment for only a thousand quintals. Since November, he has already given 800 quintals of sugarcane to the mill and is still waiting to be paid for it.
Balyan pointed out how it was a continuous battle for farmers to get paid. “The sugarcane farmer’s position in Uttar Pradesh is pathetic. If sugarcane is not delivered to the mill within two days of harvest, the mill rejects it saying that the roots have gone bad,” he said. Besides, the farmers never get their procurement slip on time, and this comes in the way of reaching sugarcane to the mills on time, he complained.
Meanwhile, on the Ghazipur border, Tikait positioned a sugarcane crusher and juiced sugarcane himself. It was the same crusher that his father, Mahendra Singh Tikait, had used 36 years ago at the Red Fort. He said an appeal had been made to the government to provide electricity to the protesting farmers. If that was denied, Tikait said, they would make do with generators. But the agitation will carry on, he promised.
