oppn parties The Farm Agitation Will Not End As Farmers Reject Supreme Court Committee

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

December 21, 2024

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
The Farm Agitation Will Not End As Farmers Reject Supreme Court Committee

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-12 14:30:56

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Supreme Court's intervention amounted to zilch as the protesting farmers rejected the committee it has formed. They said that all the four members of the committee (Bhupinder Singh Mann of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat of Shetkeri Sangthana, Pramod Kumar Joshi and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati) are not acceptable to them. Balbir Singh Rajewal of  Bhartiya Kisan Union said "we had said yesterday itself that we won't appear before any such committee. Our agitation will go on as usual. All the members of this Committee are pro-government and had been justifying the laws of the Government", while Krantikari Kisan Union chief Darshan Pal said "we had issued a press note last night stating that we won't accept any committee formed by Supreme Court for mediation. We were confident that Centre will get a committee formed through Supreme Court to take the burden off their shoulders".

With this, whatever little hopes that the farm impasse might be resolved by the Supreme Court's intervention have vanished. The farmers have further hardened their stand and have also said that they will not talk to the committee even if the members are changed. One feels that the Supreme Court has misunderstood the problem. It is not and it was never about the laws. It is about the political constituency which the farmers represent and they are resenting the way the laws were forced upon them without consultation. The Supreme Court has added fuel to the fire by making the same mistake. It has tried to force the committee upon the unions without consulting with them about its composition.

Now we come to the main point in this debate which might be raised by the Supreme Court. It might well say that "we are the Supreme Court and we will decide who will sit in the committee. We do not need to consult the unions for that". Well, in that case, the government can also say that "we are the government and we will draft the laws and get them passed in Parliament. We do not need to consult anyone for that". But do democracies work that way?

Both the government and the Supreme Court have got it wrong. The government wants to smash age-old stranglehold of the middlemen over the farmers and wants to usher in modern marketing principles in agriculture. It made the mistake of undermining the inherent political strength (built by the constant buttering they received from successive governments in the past) of the farmers in Punjab and to a lesser extent in Haryana by not engaging them in consultations over the laws. Now it needs to wriggle out of the situation and thinks the Supreme Court will help it out. The court has tried, although unconstitutionally. But one thinks it is going to be a flop show. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.