Panjabi Farmers and their Resistance

(c/n: mentions of suicide, drug abuse, political violence, genocide, and caste.)

We’d like to wish everyone a warm welcome. Whether you’ve been with us from the start, or have recently joined us, it is great to see you all and we hope this will be a productive and enjoyable Michaelmas Term. Whilst the ongoing pandemic will present us with numerous challenges, here at Cambridge University Sikh Society we will not be deterred from creating an environment where everyone can feel safe, welcomed, and nurtured in their Sikhi.

Our weekly Rehraas Sahib sessions will continue virtually this term, every Friday at 6pm. However, now from 5:30, we will be having a drop in welfare session with our Welfare Officer Simrit. And after Rehraas, we will hold a short discussion to help us in our understanding of what we’ve read. The link to the Zoom meeting can be found here. (Meeting ID: 912 0254 0509)

You can also take a look at our termcard for Michaelmas on our insta. As well as the Kaur’s Social, which will be taking place this Saturday, we have the Walk to Grantchester; which will take place on Sunday afternoon. Please note you have to sign up for this by the end of today (Friday) – more details are on our event page here

Alongside this, we have our Panjabi/Gurmukhi classes for which you should already be allocated into your groups. Feel free to reach out and begin arranging times, and feel free to reach out to Harjivan, our Religious and Interfaith Officer, if there are any issues.

And now we move on to our monthly bulletin, where we shed light on a certain issue or topic that we feel is worth unpackaging. Through this we aim to provide some context and some resources to help understand the biggest issues in the Sikh world; as well as encourage everyone to think deeper and more critically of current affairs and the Sikh faith. Please feel free to mention any suggestions on topics for the future, as well as any feedback or things you may have found interesting from this month’s bulletin.

This bulletin, we feel, is probably the most relevant we’ve ever written. The ongoing protests by Panjab’s farmers have been taking place since early September. With the Indian Government having announced new bills surrounding agricultural markets, the Panjab has been the forefront of protests to these proposals. Farmer’s unions have been out in force, staging demonstrations and ‘Rail Rokos’ (halting trains) in order to express their anger and upset at these new laws.

The three laws in question surround the dismantling of the Mandi system. Currently, farmers mediate through state-operated ‘Mandis’ (markets) in order to sell their crops. Also, in operation is the Minimum Support Price, a price floor to ensure that farmers are able to make a living. This system is at threat by these new laws, which will mean that Panjab’s small, independent farmers are open to exploitation by large corporations – as the regulations put in place to support them are being removed with no alternative.

The Mandi system is far from perfect. Already Panjab’s farmers have been struggling. The Green Revolution in the 70’s and 80’s promised rapid growth for farmers. Whilst before all sorts of crops were grown, the Panjab was encouraged towards producing wheat and paddy (rice), at large subsidised rates. This led to an explosion in that market, and an overreliance on these industries. In the present day, this has led to very harsh times to Panjab’s farmers; as rising debts and decreasing harvests have meant that most farmers are already struggling – especially as the majority of Panjab’s economy is dependant on wheat and rice farming. This has been a contributing factor to rising farmer suicides across the Panjab, as well as over 65% of under 35s experiencing substance abuse. (Academy of Family Physicians in India). As well as this, the overuse of pesticides and fertiliser during this industry has led to increased levels of pollution and harmful chemicals within Punjabi ecosystems. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation much worse, plunging millions into poverty. It is clear that the current system is neither economically or environmentally sustainable.

And so it stands that these new legislations; that would allow international corporations unfettered access to a broken market, has pushed Panjab’s farmers to the edge.

This rising agitation is nothing new – the 1973 Anandpur Sahib Resolution (a list of demands Sikhs proposed to the Indian government to promote greater Punjabi autonomy, which was never honoured) demanded greater development in the farming industry, as well as the redistribution of wealth to the poor and avoiding the influence of capitalist interests. Agriculture is a central issue towards ideas of Sikh/Punjabi sovereignty, and these protests have only reignited distrust of the government.

Despite protesting for over a month, Panjab’s farmers were desperate to get their voice heard. Protests in solidarity took place across the diaspora, in places like Southall, Birmingham, Canada and Australia. Initially, the Indian government were dismissive of this movement, offering a conciliatory meeting with an agricultural ministry staff member. The farmer’s unions rejected this, pushing for a meeting with the government itself. At the time of writing, a meeting of 28 farmer’s unions took place with Agricultural Secretary Sanjay Agarwal in Delhi. Opposition politicians have made efforts to jump in alongside these farmers, however they have not been wholly adopted by the unions, and instead are being seen as a move to co-opt the movement as a means to gain votes. Panjab’s farmers are sceptical of any change that can take place within the system.

As a Sikh Society, we are working on ways to support Panjab’s farmers; which we will update you on shortly. We’d also encourage you to independently support organisations such as Sahaita (link here) and Kheti Virasat Mission (link here), who provide financial and structural support to many of Punjab’s struggling farmers and farm workers.

Please find below a list of resources that we find useful in understanding the current farmer’s protests. By all means, this list is not exhaustive, but we hope this will provide some sort of background.