Bharat bandh as we speak, brace your self.

Several farmers’ unions, together with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), have known as for a Gramin Bharat Bandh or nationwide strike on Friday, February 16, to press for his or her calls for earlier than the Centre. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha urged all like-minded farmers’ organisations to unite and participate within the February 16 Gramin Bharat Bandh known as by the central commerce unions.

The Bharat bandh name comes at the same time as a whole bunch of farmers marching from Punjab have been stopped on the state’s border with Haryana close to Ambala, about 200 kilometres away from Delhi. Haryana safety forces have used tear gasoline on them to try to disperse them. A Delhi Police supply mentioned they’re decided to not let the protesters enter the nationwide capital ought to they advance.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) has urged all like-minded farmer organisations to unite and participate within the Bharat bandh. The day-long protest will start from 6am to 4pm.

Gramin Bharat Bandh: What’s prone to get impacted?

Transportation, agricultural actions, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) rural works, non-public workplaces, village outlets, and rural industrial and repair sector establishments are anticipated to stay closed as a consequence of farmer unions’ nationwide strike on Friday, February 16.

Some experiences claimed that emergency providers resembling ambulance operations, newspaper distribution, marriage, medical outlets, college students going for board exams, and many others., are unlikely to be affected in the course of the strike.

What are farmers demanding?

Farmers are again on the streets of Punjab and Haryana with their demand for a regulation guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price or MSP for his or her produce.

The farmers additionally need to strengthen the MGNREGS, reinstate the outdated pension scheme, and guarantee pension and social safety for all staff in each formal and casual sectors.

The SKM has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a MSP for crops based mostly on the Swaminathan system of C2 50 (enter price of capital 50 per cent), authorized assure of procurement, debt waiver, no hike in electrical energy tariff and no good metres.

They additionally demanded free 300 models of energy for farming for home use and outlets, complete crop insurance coverage, and a hike in pensions to ₹10,000 per thirty days amongst others.

What occurred to govt-appointed panel on MSP shaped after 2021 farmers’ protest?

Emergency providers resembling ambulance operations, marriage, medical outlets, faculty, and many others., won’t be affected in the course of the Bharat Bandh on Friday.

Public intellectuals assist farmers

Quite a few public intellectuals and artists issued a joint assertion on Wednesday in assist of the joint name by the employees and farmers for a sectoral industrial strike and Grameen Bharat Bandh on February 16.

A complete of 34 individuals signed the joint assertion, which appeals to individuals from all walks of life “to extend all support to this momentous action” of the farmers and the employees.

Prabhat Patnaik, economist; Irfan Habib, historian; Nasir Tyabji, financial historian; Anil Chandra, cultural activist; and P Sainath, journalist, are a number of the individuals who signed the assertion.

“The Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have given a united call for an Industrial/Sectoral Strike and Grameen Bharat Bandh on 16 February. They have joined forces to launch united and coordinated struggles and bring together all sections of the labouring classes who face the severest brunt of the attack by the BJP-led government’s pro-corporate, anti-people policies,” the assertion learn.

The assertion claimed that the farmers and staff have joined palms to create a much more highly effective drive to problem the federal government’s ever-more aggressive offensive on their lives and livelihoods and its toxic communal propaganda to disrupt any united battle. This drive will achieve rising momentum because it takes its marketing campaign to the farthest corners of the nation, the assertion mentioned.

‘Dilli Chalo’ protest

Farmers from Punjab are tenting on the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana looking for to march in direction of Delhi to press the Centre to simply accept their calls for.

The Delhi Police has positioned orders for greater than 30,000 tear gasoline shells, an official mentioned, because the drive prepares to forestall Punjab farmers from getting into the nationwide capital below their ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest.

2020 farmers’ protest

During their protest in 2020, farmers from totally different states, primarily Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had staged a sit-in on the Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders. They sat there from August 2020 to December 2021.

Police needed to rush logistics in 2020 to test the entry of the farmers transferring in a procession of tractors.