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Journalism of Courage
Around 5,000 farmers from various regions of western Uttar Pradesh began a march to Delhi on Monday (December 2), after gathering at the Delhi-Noida border in recent days to stage a protest.
Several farmers’ collectives are agitating against the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida), the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) based in Gautam Buddh Nagar. Traffic was affected near these areas for a few hours, as a result.
The protests began on November 25 outside the office of the Noida Authority and reached their eighth day on Monday. Here is what to know.
The protest is being held under the banner of multiple farmer-led organisations, including the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKU), Bhartiya Kisan Parishad (BKP) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM).
While some of these organisations, like the SKU, also led the farmers’ protests of 2020 against the three farm laws passed by the Central government, their demands are different this time and concern the Uttar Pradesh government.
Notably, another set of farmers from Punjab are protesting near the Punjab-Haryana border. Their demands are related to Minimum Support Price and separate from the UP farmers’ issues.
Their demands are related to land acquisition by the government in the region between 1997 and 2008. “We have been protesting for a long time now but the authority has done nothing except exploit poor farmers. Now, they are talking of New Noida, they will again usurp our land forcefully,” said Bharatiya Kisan Union (Akhand) President Chaudhary Mahesh Kasana.
Chiefly, farmers have demanded that 10% of the land taken over for developing residential and commercial areas be developed as plots for the families who were its original owners.
They also want a 64.7% increase in compensation rate owing to increased inflation, arguing that the old acquisition rate is four times lower than the current market rate. Other demands include implementing new legal benefits for the children and families of those displaced, like 10% reservation in schools and colleges in Gautam Buddh Nagar, and provisions such as free electricity and water.
Several protests for such demands have been held since 2008, though on a smaller scale. However, since the beginning of this year, protests intensified after leaders like Sukhbir Khalifa of BKP and several other organisations joined in.
In February, their protest at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida was halted. The state government assured farmers of meeting their demands and said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would set up a committee to draft a report examining the issues.
Among the committee’s recommendations were:
*Both Noida Authority and Greater Noida Authority should prepare a survey of its total rural population as per the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority Rural Abadi site (Management and Regularisation for Residential Purpose) (Third Amendment) Regulations of 2011, using satellite imagery within two months.
*Both the authorities should determine and demarcate the peripheral boundaries within three months.
*The chief executive officer of Greater Noida Authority should allot plots to eligible farmers within six months.
*The GNIDA should give 64.7% increased compensation farmers whose lands were acquired.
*A regional development committee should be developed. Its members are to include the District Magistrate, CEOs of all three Authorities, Chief Development Officer, social workers and two reputed NGOs.
The farmers have alleged the report was never made public and its recommendations were never implemented. They added that though the UP government conceded several of their demands, their main demand of allocation of 10% of the land in Gautam Buddha Nagar for the original owners was never agreed to.
What happens now?
Farmers hailing from several villages in Greater Noida, Meerut, Bulandshahr and Agra were stopped at the Mahamaya flyover on Monday morning.
The farmers decided to halt the protest after officials of the three authorities verbally assured farmers of a meeting with the Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government within a week. However, a similar meeting was held earlier this year as well.
The farmers are currently at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida and have said they will stay there for a week to raise their demands, without causing traffic hindrances for commuters. If their demands are not met at the end of this period, they plan to resume the Delhi Chalo march.
