Farmers' Protests In Delhi Today Demanding MSP Guarantee, Other Key Reforms; Major Traffic Curbs In Place

Farmers, under the banners of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (a non-political organisation) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, after their attempt to march to Delhi was blocked by security forces.

From December 6 onwards, more farmers are expected to join the protest, with the march taking place daily from 9 am to 5 pm. The protesting farmers will spend the night on the road.

Photo Credit: ANI/X

Farmers' Demands

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) leader Sarwan Singh Pandher highlighted that the farmers have been protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri for 293 days.

He criticised the BJP-led government for not engaging in any talks with the farmers since February 18.

Pandher accused the Centre of avoiding dialogue and reiterated that the farmers are rejecting contract farming, instead demanding a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of crops.

A three-member panel of Union ministers - Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai - had met with farmer representatives on February 18, but the farmers rejected the Centre's proposal to purchase pulses, maize, and cotton at the MSP for five years.

In addition to the legal guarantee on MSP, the protesters are demanding a farm loan waiver, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, no increase in electricity tariffs, the withdrawal of police cases, "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21.

Guramneet Singh Mangat, another farmer leader, mentioned that when the first group of farmers begins its march towards Delhi on December 6, other farmer bodies from Kerala, Uttarakhand, and Tamil Nadu will also organise marches towards their respective state assemblies.