WE, THE FARMERS OF INDIA,
The producers of primary agricultural commodities;
Including Women, dalit, nomadic and adivasi farmers;
Landowners, tenants, sharecroppers, agricultural labourers and plantation workers;
Fishworkers, milk producers, poultry farmers, livestock rearers, pastoralists, and collectors of minor forest produce; and,
Everyone engaged in crop cultivation, shifting cultivation, sericulture, vermiculture, and agro-forestry;
CONVINCED THAT
Wellbeing of farmers is not just about economic survival of a majority of Indian households, it is about retaining our national dignity and our civilizational heritage; and, that
Farmers are not just a residue from our past; farmers, agriculture and village India are integral to the future of India and the world;
RECOGNISING OUR RESPONSIBILITY
As honest hard workers who face numerous odds;
As bearers of historic knowledge, skills and culture;
As agents of food safety, security and sovereignty; and
As guardians of biodiversity and ecological sustainability;
RECALLING THE PRINCIPLES OF
Economic viability,
Ecological sustainability,
Social justice and equity,
YET ALARMED AT
Economic, ecological, social and existential crisis of Indian agriculture;
Persistent state neglect of agriculture and discrimination against farming communities;
Increasing vulnerability of farmers to extortion by village powerful and government officials;
Deepening penetration of large, predatory and profit hungry corporations;
Spate of farmers’ suicide across the country and unbearable burden of indebtedness; and
Widening disparities between farmers and other sectors in our society,
SOLEMNLY AFFIRM OUR RIGHT TO
Land for agriculture;
Commons and other natural resources;
Diverse Seeds;
Affordable inputs;
Income sufficient to cover dignified life;
Protection against natural and other calamities;
Social security; and
Collective futures,
THEREFORE, CALL UPON THE PARLIAMENT OF INDIA TO
Immediately hold a Special Session to pass and enact the two Kisan Mukti Bills that are of, by and for the farmers of India and await its consideration, namely,
- The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018; and
- The Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018,
And to hold a special discussion on the grave and unprecedented agrarian crisis in our country and its related aspects.
AND DEMAND THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MUST IMMEDIATELY:
- Increase the number of guaranteed employment days under MGNREGS to 200 days per family, ensure wage payment at par with legal minimum wages for unskilled farm labour and extend this scheme to urban areas;
- Reduce the cost of inputs including seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, water, diesel and electricity for farmers;
- Provide comprehensive social security for all farm households including pension @ at least Rs. 5,000 per month per farmer above the age of 60 and health coverage;
- Universalize the Public Distribution System with cereals, pulses, oils and sugar and stop its linkage with Aadhaar and the biometric system;
- Address the menace of stray animals by removing all legal and vigilante-imposed restrictions on cattle trade, compensating farmers for destruction of crops by wild and stray animals and supporting animal shelters;
- Stop land acquisition without informed consent, acquisition of agricultural land for commercial land development and the bypassing or dilution of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 at all levels;
- Make payment of cane dues mandatory within 15 days of opening of the mill, maintain recovery rate at 9.5%; and introduce SAP for cane throughout the country;
- Withdraw pesticides that have been banned elsewhere and not approve GM seeds without a comprehensive needs, alternatives and impact assessment;
- Disallow Foreign Direct Investment in agriculture and foods processing, and remove agriculture from Free Trade Agreements, including the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP);
- Require identification and registration of all real cultivators including tenant farmers, sharecroppers, women farmers, lessee cultivators etc. for purposes of accessing benefits of all government schemes; and
- Stop uprooting adivasi farmers in the name of afforestation, ensure strict implementation of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and prevent dilution of Forests Rights Act, 2006, while at the same time ensuring its stringent implementation all over the country;
AND, FURTHER, URGE THE GOVERNMENT TO EVOLVE POLICIES TO
- Provide land and livelihood rights to the landless, including on agricultural land, water for fishing, mining of minor minerals etc.;
- Implement a comprehensive crop insurance scheme to cover all types of risks for all crops and for all farmers, with farm as the unit of damage assessment; such a scheme should benefit the farmers and not the corporate insurance companies;
- Build assured protective irrigation through sustainable means for farmers, especially in the rainfed areas;
- Ensure remunerative guaranteed prices for milk and its procurement for dairies and to supplement nutritional security through Mid Day Meal Scheme and Integrated Child Development Scheme etc;
- Waive off all outstanding agricultural loans of farmers from suicide affected families and provide special opportunities to children of such families;
- Protect the farmers from corporate plunder in the name of contract farming;
- Invest on farmers’ collectives to create Farmer Producer Organisations and Peasant Cooperatives instead of corporatisation of agriculture and takeover by MNCs; and
- Promote an agro-ecology paradigm that is based on suitable cropping patterns and local seed diversity revival, so as to build economic viability, ecologically sustainable, autonomous and climate resilient agriculture.
The above Charter is released by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on the occasion of the historic Kisan Mukti March in Delhi, 29-30 November 2018.