As farmers continue to protest at the Punjab-Haryana border, recently, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Political) refused to meet a high-powered committee set up by the Supreme Court to look into their demands. On January 4, Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) did the same. The committee has met members of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), of which Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the farmer leader on a fast unto death, is the convener. However, only its second-rung leadership attended the meeting. What is the committee’s mandate, and why are farmer leaders not meeting it? We explain. What did the SKM say? SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said they discussed the issue for two days and decided that the panel’s mandate had nothing to do with the farmers' demands. He claimed the high-powered committee had to work on providing a space to agitating farmers at Khanauri and Shambhu borders, but was unable to do anything. “Hence, we decided not to be a part of their meeting on January 3, as we feel it will harm the interests of the agitation,” Rajewal said. He also said they did not want to be seen participating in the meeting when Dallewal is on a fast unto death. What is the panel's mandate? While constituting the high-powered committee on September 2 last year, the Supreme Court had stated that the “committee is requested to meanwhile reach out to the agitating farmers at the Shambu border to impress upon them to immediately remove their tractors/trolleys, tents and other accessories from and near the National Highway so as to enable the civil and police administration of both the States to open the National Highway.” Judges Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan also stated, “We hope and trust that one of the major demands of the agitating farmers regarding constitution of a neutral High-powered Committee having been accepted with the consent of both the States, they will immediately respond to the request of the High-powered Committee and will vacate the Shambu border or the other roads connecting the two States without any delay. This gesture will provide huge relief to the general public who are facing extreme hardships due to the blockade of the Highways. It will also facilitate the High-powered Committee and both the States to consider the farmers genuine and just demands in a dispassionate and objective manner.” Their mandate is also about examining the larger issues confronting the farming community. “We may hasten to add that there is a sizeable population of non-agriculture communities in the States of Punjab and Haryana – largely belong to the marginalised sections of the society and live below the poverty line. Most of them are the strength and backbone of agricultural activities in their villages We acknowledge their contribution towards the agricultural growth and are of the view that their legitimate aspirations, if not enforceable rights, also deserve empathy and due consideration by the Committee, while examining the larger issues which are confronting the farming community in the States of Punjab and Haryana,” the SC noted. Who are the members of the panel? As per suggestions by Punjab and Haryana, Justice (retd.) Nawab Singh, Former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, was appointed chairperson of the panel. BS Sandhu, former Haryana Director General of Police who hails from Punjab; Devinder Sharma, a noted agriculture expert; Prof. Ranjit Singh Ghumman, Prof. of Eminence at GNDU, Amritsar (Punjab); and Dr Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana are the other members. The SC had said that the experts in the committee are “distinct in their respective fields and are above board. They are persons of high integrity with a dedicated commitment to the field of their specialisation, with special expertise in the field of agriculture and firsthand knowledge of the hardships being experienced by the rural people including farmers.” What did the committee’s first report say? In its first report submitted to the Supreme Court on November 22, the panel listed reasons behind agrarian distress in Punjab and Haryana, including stagnant yield, rising costs, debt, and an inadequate marketing system. The committee suggested solutions, including examining the possibility of giving legal sanctity to minimum support price (MSP) and offering direct income support. In its 11-page report, the panel said, “The farming community in the country in general and that of Punjab and Haryana in particular has been facing an ever-increasing crisis for over two decades. The stagnation in yield and production growth since the mid-1990s marked the beginning of the crisis.” It added, “In 2022-23, the institutional debt on farmers in Punjab was Rs 73,673 crore, while in Haryana it was Rs 76,630 crore as per the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). There is also a significant burden of non-institutional debt on farmers, which is estimated to be 21.3 per cent of total outstanding debt on farmers in Punjab and 32 per cent in Haryana, according to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).” The report said the farming community across the country was struggling with a suicide epidemic. “In India, over 4 lakh farmers and farm workers have committed suicide since 1995. In Punjab, a house-to-house survey conducted by three public sector universities recorded 16,606 suicides among farmers and farm workers in 15 years (2000 to 2015),” it said. And what next? The committee is now preparing its second report on boosting farm income, which also includes MSP. For this, the committee has met various stakeholders, including the directors of agriculture and horticulture departments of Punjab and Haryana. More meetings are lined up from January 7. It has called institutions that work on agriculture policies. Vijay Pal Sharma, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices, has been called. NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand has also been invited. Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL), which had pegged the universal MSP to cost at Rs 21,000 crore last fiscal, has been invited. Apart from this, the MD of Amul has also been called.
