Nishant Kr Azad in Delhi and
Venkatesan T S from Chennai
Protest at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar is not new and this time it is farmers from Tamil Nadu who have travelled thousands of kilometers to meet their demands. Over the past four weeks, Jantar Mantar has become home to hundreds of Tamil Nadu farmers protesting with skulls. To take their protest at different level, a group of Tamil Nadu farmers who were protesting at Jantar Mantar stripped near the Prime Minister”s Office on April 10, demanding their agricultural loans to be waived. The
farmers, who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar said they would further intensify their protest in case a positive view of their problem was not taken soon.
Talking to Organiser correspondent a farmer JP Krishnan said, “The skulls are of our fellow farmers who have committed suicides in the wake of drought. It is the failed monsoon and political uncertainty in the State which have plunged the Tamil Nadu’s agrarian sector into distress.”
Dressed in green lungi, the farmers shaved half of
theirhead to grab the attention. Farmers claim that this has been the worst drought in Tamil Nadu in 140 years. Over a hundred farmers have ended their lives because of agrarian crisis between October and December, 2016. Each faced a fear to pay debt to the private money lender or to the bank as the money provided by the Government as relief was not enough. The farmers have sought Rs 40,000 crore as
drought relief.
While the Central Government has released a financial assistance of Rs 2,014.45 crore to Tamil Nadu against the loss caused by drought and cyclonic storm on March 31, they have not received much support from the State Government. The Government at Centre had also sent an Inter-Ministerial Central Team to Tamil Nadu to assess
the situation.
Looking into seriousness of the matter, on April 4, the Madras High Court took cognisance of Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar and directed the Tamil Nadu Government to waive off loans of all the farmers. The court has also directed the State to ensure that no penal action is taken against the farmers by State officials.
The decision was taken following a petition filed by P Ayyakannu of the National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturist Association. The court also restrained officials from initiating any recovery proceedings against farmers who had defaulted on repayment of crop loans. The bench also mentioned various issues like drought, interlinking of rivers and non-release of Cauvery water for irrigation in the delta districts of
Tamil Nadu.
After losing much of their summer crop to the Cauvery row between Tamil Nadu and the
neighbouring State of Karnataka over sharing of water, the farmers lost the winter crop too due to an unprecedented drought.
J P Krishnan, one of the farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar said, “For the last two years the cultivation was very poor in the State. We are experiencing an agricultural crisis. Bank and
private money lenders know the situation we are suffering from; still they are asking to pay the debt. Nobody is listening to us. We are suffering from a very bad phase. I just request to the Government to waive our loans and find a suitable solution for drought which Tamil farmers face every year.”
In support of Tamil Nadu farmers, Delhi Tamil Youth Forum also staged protest at different places in Delhi with banners and posters. The demand posters read: Waving off Farm Loans; Constitute Cauvery Management Board; Interlink Perennial Rivers; Declare Cauvery Delta Region as Reserved Zone; and Farmers’ Pension Scheme.
Tamilians living in Delhi and nearby states are also showing solidarity towards the farmers by providing them with daily requirements. Ravi, a Tamil labourer who has travelled to Delhi from Ghaziabad to support the cause said, “We
gathered here for a united cause. This is a battle of survival for the farmers. With spike in farmer deaths due to debt and drought, Tamil Nadu’s farm sector is now in the midst of a huge crisis. India is a country of farmers but they are dying. Nobody cares for farmers. We just appeal to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to intervene in this matter.” He also appealed to stop
hydrocarbon projects in Tamil Nadu.
Ballen, a student said to Organiser, “The farmers give food to us and it’s our responsibility to not let them beg on the streets of Delhi.” Ballen came from Haryana to support the farmers.
In January this year, a desperate attempt was made by the farmers to draw the Government’s attention to their plight. The farmers stood with dead rats in their mouths protesting at some places in Tamil Nadu demanding waving off loans and other relief measures. While after
interference of Madras High Court, the farmers will get a little relief, there are many issues which need to be addressed. Several national and local leaders have extended their support to the agitation.
Meanwhile, there are many versions coming out behind this protest. According to the BKS, “What they are doing is mere drama. It is attention seeking protest. They want to create an impression that farmers in Tamil Nadu wear only loincloth. They should have agitated against the Tamil Nadu Government instead of showing theatrics in New Delhi. It is for the State Government to address the issues faced by the farmers.”
“In the name of innovative protests these farmers with wearing skulls on their neck, half tonsured heads, wearing green coloured loin clothes on their waist are denigrating their brothers in poor light. They should do it in Tamil Nadu not in New Delhi. Ponnuchamy Ayyakannu, who is leading the sit-in by the Joint Forum of Tamil Nadu Farmers Associations in Delhi, instead of fighting against river sand quarrying, cattle slaughter etc, chose to protest only to create bad name for Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, pointed out a BJP leader. It is rumoured that Ayyakannu and his family owns several acres of arable land and owns over 70 cattle drawn carts which are ferrying smuggled sands from rivers.
Other farmers associations are also opposed to this type of protests. According to Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association chief S Ranganathan, “What they are doing is not fair. This is nothing but cheap publicity. We farmers are not beggars and alms seekers. There are some genuine problems but this is not the way to highlight the same,” he added According to T Perumal, All India General Secretary, BKS, “Ayyakannu was debarred by the Tamil Nadu Bar Council from practicing law in any of the court and the ban is still in force.”
Another spokesperson of BKS Gopi said, “Ayyakannu was in BKS as General Secretary and Vice-President. When he tried to project himself as the champion of farmers and started deviating from the rules, he was expelled from the BKS in 2015. To get his son MLA seat, he has been doing protests for DMK. To drive home this point, his son’s marriage took place in the presence of former DMK Minister KN Nehru.” Perumal said that when KN Nehru, Member of Legislative Assembly of the Tiruchirappalli West State Assembly Constituency and former Minister for Transport Department in Tamil Nadu, encroached 50 acres of lake without the consent of the BKS, Ayyakannu filed an affidavit on its letter head stating that the encroachment had not caused any problem to the farmers. The case went against Nehru. BKS has been opposing sand quarry right from the beginning. He was assigned to put an end to the sand quarrying. But he joined hands with them to swindle nature’s bounty with his own bullock carts and made money. In the name of holding rallies, he had collected funds from public and business misusing BKS position. Now he is the pawn in DMK’s hands. DMK wanted to gain in the divided AIADMK and create raucous in the State Assembly during confidence vote but it failed. To establish Stalin’s supremacy in the party and to defame BJP Government and particularly PM Modi, they sent Ayyakkannu to Delhi to stage dramas. The Tamil Nadu is witnessing worst ever drought and it was due to encroachments allowed during the Dravidian rule on water bodies, felling of trees, unbridled sand quarrying. Now they want to shift the blame on BJP.”
Some farmer outfits pointed out that the then Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had announced on January 10, that Tamil Nadu would be declared a drought-hit State and that farmers who have incurred 33 per cent loss in paddy and other irrigation crops would be paid Rs 5,465 per acre and for long term crops Rs 7,287 per acre. Before implementing it, he was eased out of office. The Government led by Edapadi Palanisamy is keeping mum on the announcement made by his predecessor.
Senior Journalist S Viswanahan said, “The distress of farmers is real and deserves attention. But appeasing farmers may not solve the several fundamental problems that ail the State’s agriculture -problems which require major structural reforms and not just band-aid solutions. While the shortage of water owing to a lack of large perennial rivers is a major problem in the State, another deficiency is the fragmentation of land holdings. Benefits like waiving off farm loans,
reduction in crop loan interest, and increase in food, power subsidies and subsidy on agri-machinery dished out by State government have also not helped in improving the situation. The State has also been extending support for crop insurance and subsidies on agri machineries and drip irrigation. Yet, farming continues to be in distress and the contribution of agriculture has been steadily declining, and at present accounts for 8 per cent of the State’s GDP (against 14 per cent for the nation).”
The respective State governments should take action to address these issues. It is the State which is responsible for evoking the measures for the betterment of farmers.
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