Kisan Swaraj Yatra Reaches Rajghat: Thousands take pledge to reclaim sovereignty of our food and farming

New Delhi, 11 December 2010: Smt Sonia Gandhi met with a delegation of Kisan Swaraj Yatra members today and assured them that she shares the concerns raised by the Yatra. Meanwhile, thousands of citizens from all across the country came together today at Rajghat, the memorial of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, to proclaim their sovereign right over food and farming. The event marked the culmination of the 71-day long Kisan Swaraj Yatra which started from Sabarmati on Gandhi Jayanti, the 2nd of October. The Yatra is a pan-Indian outreach and mobilization effort to draw fresh attention of the nation to the continuing agrarian crisis in India. The Yatra, one of the biggest initiatives in the recent past to bring together people from all sections of society on the issue of sustainability in Indian farming, interacted with farmers and others in 100 districts of 20 states that it cut across in the last 70 days. There were public meetings, farmer interactions, field visits and citizen forums in 100 districts as part of the Yatra, through which a dialogue was struck with nearly twenty five thousand people, including farmers, consumers, agriculture scientists, political parties and governments. The Yatra was organized by ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture), a newly formed loose network of hundreds of organizations across the country.

Meeting the delegation from the Kisan Swaraj Yatra, Mrs Sonia Gandhi assured that the Government will do its best to reduce the suffering of farmers and examine the proposals for a Kisan Swaraj policy put forward by ASHA.

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, which found a loud response with farmers and others all over the country so far, is calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture – a path that will provide livelihood and food security for our farmers, keep our soils alive, and our food and water poison-free. More than 220 farmers and other citizens have travelled across the country with a message of hope to farmers of the country, with an awakening call to all Indians about the need to save our food and farming systems and with a challenge posed to the governments, both at the Centre and States, that are adopting short-sighted, anti-farmer policies.

Sharing her experiences of the Yatra with the gathering, Kavitha Kuruganti, co-convenor of ASHA said, “Farmers are indeed struggling to have a viable livelihood and dignified living through farming and to hold on to their resources in most places. We found that the ecological crisis in our agriculture is real, as a result of intensive agriculture models and the damage is being experienced tangibly, whether it is related to land or water or seed. We also found that seed sovereignty is no longer an ideological or theoretical concept – choices related to Seed are indeed narrowing down for farmers, with seed monopolies of big corporations growing; issues around good quality, affordable, locally suitable diverse seeds in an accountable system throw up the need to look into seed self-reliance urgently. The Yatra also found that ecological farming based on farmer-level innovations related to soil/pest/disease management and seed-breeding is indeed being practiced on a wide scale and the government is yet to pick up its pro-active spread, given the current economic, environmental and health imperatives. Nearly everyone that the Yatris interacted with had concerns about food safety and quality and implications for their health. Farmers repeatedly raised the issue of high costs of farming coupled with non-remunerative prices pushing them into distress”.

Giving a clarion call against the takeover of our food and farming by multinational agri-corporations, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha [KRRS] declared that the time has come for a second freedom struggle, this time to regain our land, water and other natural resources from the grip of these MNCs. He further stated that the latest ploy of the agrochemical companies is to take over the most essential component of our farming – our Seed. He lamented that our governments, be it in the Centre or at the state level are crafting laws like the Seeds bill and BRAI in support of profit-hungry corporations, to the detriment of farmers”.

The day started with people paying homage to Gandhi and taking a pledge to protect food and seed sovereignty of this country. This was followed by felicitation of around 30 progressive ecological farmers in different corners of the country and with a special recognition accorded to an entire village – Enabavi of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh – which through ecological and self reliant agriculture is showing the way forward for the nation. Participants pointed out that lakhs of farmers around the country are showing that such farming is indeed viable and conserves the productive base of farmers.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr G.V Ramanjaneyulu of ASHA shared the demands of the Yatra as such: “The government has to guarantee income security to all farming households, ensure environmental sustainability in our agriculture and protect the rights and resources of farmers including on seed and land. Only then can we have sustainable livelihoods assured for our anna daatas”.

Apart from the farmers echoing the need for self-reliant ecological farming and taking part in large numbers in hundreds of events that the Kisan Swaraj Yatra took part in, the active involvement of urban and rural consumers made the Yatra a unique experience. “With food price inflation shooting through the roof even as farmers really do not benefit from such high prices, and our food being rendered highly unsafe due to mindless usage of agrochemicals and with the threat of GM foods looming large, ecological farming that will assure safe, diverse, nutritious and sufficient quantities of food for all has become the need of the hour for every citizen of our country” said Kirankumar Vissa from Sahaja Aharam, a consumer co-operative from Andhra Pradesh.

The Kisan Swaraj Policy is based on the four pillars of economic sustainability of agriculture-based livelihoods; ecological sustainability to preserve productive natural resources; people’s control over agricultural resources including land, water, forest, seed and knowledge; and, ensuring non-toxic, diverse, nutritious and adequate food for all Indians.

The gathering at Rajghat was also addressed by eminent Members of Parliament and political party leaders like Sitaram Yechury of CPI [M], D Raja of CPI, J.P. Nadda of BJP, Thathagat Satpathy of BJD, Javed Raza of JD [U] in addition to letters of support extended by Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Rajiv Pratap Rudy of BJP, Rattan Singh Ajnala of SAD and others.

The Yatra has asked for immediate cancellation of public-private partnerships with corporations like Monsanto (in different universities and with extension departments), has asked for the proposals for ‘Green Revolution in Eastern India’ to be based on lessons learnt from the mistakes of the earlier Green Revolution, to address the serious shortcomings of the proposed Seeds Bill and BRAI and to ensure that no more GM seeds are approved in the country given the negative experiences with Bt Cotton in different parts of the country.

Kisan Swaraj policy is a charter of demands by ASHA to ensure sustainability of our farming, protection of the livelihoods of the farmers and farm workers and food safety and security of the nation. The policy can be accessed at http://www.kisanswaraj.in/wp-content/uploads/Kisan-Swaraj-Policy.pdf.

For more information:
1. Kavitha Kuruganti, Mob: 0 939310 09550,email: kavitha_kuruganti@yahoo.com
2. G.V Ramanjaneyalu, Mob: 0 90006 99702, email: gvramanjaneyulu@gmail.com

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra has reached Delhi after the grueling 71-day journey around India, through 20 states, and events in 100 districts! The Yatris reached around midnight to rest at the Gandhi Darshan at Raj Ghat.

The good news is that Smt.Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the National Advisory Council, is going to meet the delegation of Kisan Swaraj Yatra at her residence at 10 Janpath. We are glad that the issues being raised by the Yatra and the unique nation-wide mobilization are being recognized by the Indian government. We hope that this will be the first step of a serious engagement from the government and the National Advisory Council with the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), on the key issues of income security for farmers, ecological sustainability and farmers’ control over resources.

We spent the night in the SCRIA campus in Khori village, Rewari district, Haryana. It was a wonderfully-maintained campus, probably one of those very rare NGO campuses where order and discipline rules! It was a beautiful winter morning that we woke up to, pretty yellow fields of mustard greeting us in the morning mist. We were told that breakfast would be served at 9.15 am and believe it or not, we could set our clocks to the time when it was actually served, to the second! No plastic cups or plates in sight and it was a great relief! We had a quick round of discussions in the bus, using the public address system within the mike. Each Yatri shared with the others their 3 main “take-aways” from the entire Yatra – what did they learn, what did they find striking, what is the strongest impression that they are carrying right now and so on. It was a very efficient forty minutes in which this was done. A separate blog has to carry the gist of what was said during those forty minutes, of course.

We had a rally through the village where the local farmers joined us – they added their own slogan of “Jab tak kisan dukhi rahega, dharti par toofan rahega”. We then proceeded to a colorful meeting of around 800 persons. Order apparent here too, the way all the farmers were seated in lines, the way the little fluttering green flags of “Kisan Swaraj Yatra” were arranged, the way a local elderly farmer was the MC on the stage and so on.

There was one gentleman who got up in the middle of Kavitha’s sharing on what our key demands to the government are – he said that what is being said about water in the state of Punjab is not true and that there is still plenty of water; he also said that we are not emphasizing enough on the need to integrate livestock rearing and dairying into our agricultural livelihoods. Some amount of chaos reigned after he chose to bring up these points in the middle. However, it soon settled down again with many local farmers including some women farmers coming forward to share with the others why they felt the need to try out organic farming and what the experience has been so far. Mahendra ji of SCRIA explained in detail various technical details related to ecological farming and shared experiences from their exposure visit to Mr Deepak Suchde’s farm.

The women were very certain, unanimously so at that, that health was getting affected adversely by the toxic foods that they were consuming and that this needs to change. Nearly all hands in the audience shot up when asked how many would like to try out ecological farming in the next season.

After lunch, we moved to a village called Chowki No.2 (Jatusan block, Rewari district) where in the Gram Panchayat building there was a brief welcome to the yatris and a quick meeting. Before this, there was a big accident that got averted at the last moment when we were overtaking a truck. “Oh, on the very last day of the yatra!”, everyone groaned. The bus, when it skidded on newly laid slippery soil on the roadside, came to a grinding halt inches from a cement electricity pole, thanks to Ayub the driver being alert.

We then bade goodbye to the SCRIA team after the village meeting and ended up taking a longer route to Rohtak than the one suggested to us! We finally reached Rohtak nearly one hour later than scheduled. Here, the hall was decorated by posters made by students who took part in a competition that morning on the theme of : Indian farmers – today and tomorrow. There were elocution and essay writing competitions too. The prizes were given away by two yatris, who were farmers from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The crowd here was very mixed and somewhat challenging to interact with, in a sense….there were little children from Class 3 or 4, some young college students, some housewives, some medical doctors and so on.

There was also a Premchand play enacted in addition to some singing. Dinner of roti-subzi was packed and given to us to be eaten on our way to Delhi and it was apparent that it came from the kind hands of many women in different kitchens. It was delicious. We finally reached Rajghat at around 11.30 that night, intact and with no more mishaps. There was a loud cheer that went around the bus when Kiran Vissa, Ramoo and Suresh Deepala timed themselves perfectly when they joined the bus just outside the main gates of Gandhi Darshan. Our 70 days of Sabarmati to Rajghat, meeting thousands of Indians all along the way and striking a dialogue on our Food, Farmers and Freedom had come to an end!

We left quite early from SWRC campus in Jawaja this morning – hot water was arranged by some of the
Yatris on an open stove and everyone was ready by around 6.30 am; there was a 30-minute break for
breakfast to be packed and brought into the bus. However, the distances and speed were miscalculated
once again and by the time we reached Renwal Station where the farmers’ meeting was happening, we
were late by at least 2 hours!

Here, the mood was somber. While the waiting itself must have tired out the participants, it was a
huge looming problem that was affecting the mood. Nearly 8317 hectares of land in three villages,
for Rohininagar Housing Board in Renwal, in Chittora village and Harsulia village is being acquired and
Section 6 notice has been issued to the people here. What is the point now, said many of them. And that
too in a year where crops are being harvested after 12 long years in some places!

The Yatra and what it had set out to do in its outreach work seemed distant, in comparison to the
immediate and urgent problem staring in the face of the villagers here. In the past, they had gone to
Jaipur in truckloads, to protest and to highlight the injustice of such acquisition. However, there has
been a relentless movement forward on the grabbing of such valuable resources as grazing lands and
right now, everything appeared bleak.

Apart from finding out what the farmers would like to do now, there was not much to be done in terms
of other discussions now, many of us Yatris felt. In any case, we were getting late for our Jaipur meeting
already.

What was inspiring however was that the key leaders of the area chose to come with us in the bus to
Jaipur – they were not ready to give up, after all. Later on, we heard that they were actually inspired
enough by the prodding and urging that went on in our discussions in Renwal that they decided to now
fight it out in a court.

The Jaipur meeting was a citizens’ meeting – it had activists, journalists, students, academics
and ‘common citizens’ coming in to listen to the experiences of the Yatra and take part in the
discussions. Dr Surjeet Singh of IDS spoke about how we need to strengthen decentralized planning as a
way forward out of many problems that we are listing out – he talked about the need to build capacities
for effective use of spaces that are constitutionally and legally present.

He talked about liberalized trade pricing out oilseed farmers in Rajasthan; and that work against free
trade agreements has virtually come to a standstill and that civil society groups should not relax on that
front.

Dr V S Vyas, Vice Chair of the Planning Board spoke next. He said that the yatra appears to be very
encouraging, given its theme of saving farmers and farming. He challenged the notion that many hold
that the State does not need to do anything and that private sector will take care of addressing all issues
of farmers. He said that this is simply not correct. He pointed out that the existing systems of credit,
marketing, extension and research are not doing their bit for farmers and they benefit big farmers, if at

all, whereas 85% of our farmers do not even have five acres of land.

He posed 2-3 main questions to everyone as something to mull over and resolve, for real benefits to
accrue to farmers. 1. What should be the role of State today? How do we address the issue of Seed,
since it is the most essential input for agriculture – private sector will always try to maximize its profits
and will go for those crops where they will have more margins – however, the real needs on the ground
could be different. He maintained that we should be self-reliant when it comes to Seed and that the
State should intervene to take care of input supply and infrastructure. 2. Environmental Sustainability
– the current slogan should be “less input, more output” and alternatives are to be presented. Civil
society should take on the dissemination of innovations as its main role, he felt. 3. Should we ask for
better prices? – He felt that we should not ask for better prices since that will impact food prices for the
poorest but should strive for lesser costs and higher yields through which farmers can benefit.

He concluded by saying that this is indeed the right time for addressing much-neglected issues related to
our farmers since resources are available now for public financing. He said that if we seize the moment,
we could carve out a win-win situation for both consumers and farmers.

Several other speakers including Ashok Mathur ji spoke and this was followed by an intense round of
discussions between the yatris and those present. After a packed dinner was put into the bus, we left for
Haryana and Rewari. Here, we discovered that the RTO official, on the dark and cold highway, charged
us higher than what the receipt actually mentioned! We reached the Khori campus of SCRIA at around
12.30 am and found that Yatris from the other route had already arrived earlier in the night. All of us
back together again, to face the last day of the Yatra before it enters Delhi, on our way to Rajghat.

One team continued on its route towards Jaipur by participating in events in Jodhpur and Ajmer districts today. The dak bungalow that we stayed in was a typical government place, badly run and with rats running around amongst the mattresses put in a cramped fashion in a small hall.

Since we all got up quite early (several of us got up at 4 am to get ready for the day), we decided to hold a review meeting at 5.30 am! We were in the bus to leave for Umaidnagar Panchayat on time. This was near Mathania and when we reached the village, there was early morning activity visible.

After this meeting, we had mirchi bajjis for breakfast along with some tea and then rushed back to Jodhpur. In Jodhpur, we were stopped on our way to CAZRI (Central Arid Zone Research Institute) at least twice by the city traffic cops saying that buses are not allowed on particular routes and the diversions took more time than we thought – we ended up going around in the city for more than 45 minutes and being late for the dialogue with the agriculture scientists and others in CAZRI.

We began the dialogue as soon as we entered. The Director of the Institute Dr M N Roy welcomed everyone. We presented our concerns mainly along the following lines:

• Income security for all farming households
• Environmental sustainability in Indian agriculture
• Securing rights of farmers over their resources like land, seed and water
• Ensuring safe, diverse, nutritious and adequate food for all

The gathering included a DDA from Jodhpur (Shri R G Sharma) and was facilitated by Dr L P Bharara, a retired Principal Scientist in CAZRI.

The Director said that the issues being raised by us are pertinent and are being discussed and debated within different government bodies too. He said that the compulsions related to securing 4% growth rate in agriculture should also be balanced with other concerns. Seed, according to him, was a prime issue and that there are several seed-related initiatives by the Government of India too. We have to tackle the issue of small and fragmented landholdings, he said.

He said one important objective of his Institute was to reduce input costs to leave more margins for farmers; environment-friendly, cost-effective technologies are what we need, he said. He also remarked that ‘produce more’ is not a valid approach anymore and that we should focus on the value chain so that farmers can also get higher dividends. He pointed out that forestry and natural resource management as whole is very important. He opined that farmers’ welfare is important. He congratulated the Yatris on the cause they are espousing and said that our role is important for policy-makers to be appraised on various issues.

We then had further discussions on how the GDP growth rates can be indeed met if only prices of agricultural produce are not pegged so low, how the concepts around small landholdings need to be looked at since these holdings are indeed more productive and efficient, can provide sustainable livelihoods, can take ecological farming and so on. We also pointed out that various government initiatives related to seed would not stand any chance given the space that is being provided to aggressive, monopolistic nature of corporations like Monsanto. We pointed out that researchers’ rights are also at stake here and not just farmers’ rights and that this should be a matter of concern for all NARS bodies.

Dr Roy said that when it comes to Seed, the extension and marketing mechanism that exists now is not effective enough and that we need to strengthen that. He also admitted that the issue of MNCs remains. About landholdings, he said that in some instances, large landholdings might be a more useful model. He also said that as agriculture scientists, they work within some boundaries but whenever they get an opportunity, he would try and raise the issues being discussed here.

After he left, Prof N S Shekhawat raised several issues – he said that importing of exotic species is causing problems in some instances, eroding the local diversity. He also felt that the existing conditions of Rajasthani farmers thankfully don’t allow them to depend on high-external-input, intensive agriculture models and therefore, the threat of big corporations taking over is low. He pointed to water depletion increasing in the state and how seed erosion is an issue of concern. He gave the example of ‘chaadi bajra’ which was high in its vitamin content, was high yielding and drought tolerant which is not available any more. He concluded by saying that we should be circumspect about importing technologies blindly just as we should not oppose technologies blindly. We need to look at promoting technologies, species and practices that do not destroy our culture, our biodiversity and livelihoods and that suit our climate and social systems, he concluded.

Dr R P Jangir of Rajasthan Agriculture University’s Mandor Centre (Zonal Director Research) said that organic farming is indeed important for conserving soil health; however, productivity of crops is also an important concern. He advocated intensive organic agriculture, especially for coarse cereals grown with traditional seeds. He said that for cereals, spices and vegetables, farmers should opt for organic. He also shared results of testing done on organic produce from the coordinated research project that he runs in different centres of Rajasthan – he said that protein content, keeping quality and taste had increased in the organic approach, as compared to the conventional, chemical cultivation.

He felt that public private partnerships where companies are roped in to multiply seed developed by public sector bodies should be ok. He expressed some reservations about GM seeds.

There was a discussion on Bt Cotton after this and it was pointed out that the paper presented to Mr Jairam Ramesh by Director-CICR points out to number of crores being spent on insecticides on cotton actually increasing in the recent past and not decreasing!

There was a discussion subsequently on Project Golden Rays, the PPP between Rajasthan government and Monsanto through which large scale promotion of Monsanto’s hybrid maize seed is happening. The DDA, Jodhpur said that yields were better with hybrid maize seed and that there were encouraging results on the ground. However, since farmers were not buying hybrid maize seed due to high cost of the seed, the government decided to procure the seed from the company and distribute it free of cost, he said. He admitted that while this was ‘short-term thinking’, there were certainly other issues to be addressed in the medium and long term. He also said that farmers of Rajasthan were vigilant and that they will not just adopt anything that is given to them. He shared that a High Powered Committee was set up by the government of Rajasthan after the recent debate on this project and other PPPs, written a lot about media.

He also shared that organic farming area is high in Rajasthan, by default and that the government is planning to increase bajra production and even export it and a detailed plan has been created for the purpose.

There was a presentation on Organic Farming by CAZRI scientist Arun K Sharma subsequently. In this brief presentation, he said that varietal diversity has been an important component to deal with variability in temperature and rainfall in the area. He said that from their own experimental plot, it was clear that organic farming increases crop resilience to variability in climate, enhanced soil water retention and biological activity and that there was successful pest control with eco-friendly management practices. He also said that during a severe drought period, it was only his farm which produced fodder and grain while other plots did not yield anything. He also said that for all those people who keep asking questions on where are the resources required for organic inputs, his answer is that “input use in any case will keep coming down over the years as the eco-systems are restored”.

Several participants emphasized that unless we talk about rainwater conservation and tree plantations/afforestation, we would be incomplete in our approaches too.

After the CAZRI dialogue, with some quick lunch consisting of bajre ki roti and raita at a roadside dhaba, we left for Beawar tehsil in Ajmer district. We were asked to come to Jawaja village where SWRC has a campus.

We halted briefly to pick up members of MKSS (some core members and several student-interns) at Jawaja and headed to Madkochra village. It is always interesting to note that all meetings conducted in late evenings especially in villages ended up interesting and filled with good interactions.

Here too as we walked through the lanes of the village shouting our slogans, mobilizing people, Shri Shankar Singh of MKSS used his typical oratory style calling them all to the venue.

Once the villagers assembled, the yatris set up the big amplifier from the bus and so the sound system was in place too. Ramesh of AP started the meeting with a telugu song in his inimitable style and there was the translation of this meaningful song for all others by Kavitha Kuruganti.

The Yatris then spoke about various issues like seed sovereignty, necessity for ensuring a minimum income to farmers, importance and advantages of sustainable agriculture, protection of farmers’ rights and resources etc. Though the debate was a bit futuristic, given that most farmers here use their own seed, the total dependency on the MNCs later if the seed business is monopolized by them, as we see the early signs now, was totally understood by the locals and they were very vociferous in conveying their disapproval against such moves.

Shri Lal Singh of MKSS spoke very eloquently in a very adorable rustic style, involving the locals and their metaphors; he efficiently presented a summary of the issues raised, putting forth all points in a very attractive order.

Shri Chunni Singh in his vote of thanks talked about his experience of always being an organic farmer all these years and how the villagers still are not getting the message. Hence he was happy that KSY was here stressing the sustainability issue and also went on to question his fellow villagers whether they had ever seen him go hungry or being with lower yields, even though he does not use any chemicals. He spoke about the importance of using own traditional seeds and explained about an old and famous variety of wheat which is no longer available anywhere.

He also exhorted all the villagers to take up a dharna outside the district collectorate, as the next step on this matter, to convey a strong message that we do not need MNCs in our agriculture.

The discussions here were so alive with genuine interaction and local metaphors that the Yatris rated this as one of the best dialogues in the Yatra so far and settled down in Jawaja on this cold winter night.

We began our day in biting cold. The Urmul Sethu campus that we stayed in was a large campus with buildings scattered at a distance from each other. The earlier night (night, morning?), when we reached the campus at midnight, there was hot food waiting for us. Given that we all had to skip our lunch in the afternoon, no one minded eating at that time of the day!

This day, the Yatra was to split into two teams to go on two separate routes within Rajasthan. This update is from the Bikaner-Jodhpur team. We set off for Bikaner for a press conference together. We reached there in time (by around 10.45 am) to find that the local team was still not there and that the meeting in Nokha was scheduled for 12 noon for the “bus team” (the smaller team consisted of six persons who traveled with Mr Ashok Mathur in a hired car). This team decided to skip the press conference and left for Nokha after waiting for a little while.

The Nokha public meeting was at the Ambedkar Chowk and it was obvious that many of the farmers here were poor farmers, who spend most of their time working hard in the fields (this appeared to be a contrast to some of the meetings in Punjab). The local farmers presented their main issues to the Yatris:

• No procurement happening of Bajra, though support prices have been announced
• Farmers’ lands are being sold off without them knowing about it because of a land mafia operating – cases of at least 80 such farmers are already documented
• The younger generation is selling off lands that their ancestors have steadfastly held on to – there are instances when the parents are not even informed fully about such deals
• Compound interest being charged by banks on agricultural loans is an issue – this is illegal by some provisions made in the state
• Resorting to depending on seeds supplied by companies has resulted in some cases of lack of germination and so on

We presented the issues that the Yatra has been raising and this found a resounding endorsement from everyone present there. A farmer called Mahavirji came running to the bus just as we were leaving this place for lunch to say that marketing of grain the local market yard is causing major problems for the farmers. The traders keep the farmers waiting sometimes for more than fifteen days, he said. He wanted the issue to be highlighted.

After lunch, we went to a village called Sri Balaji. Here, a villager called Narendra Kumar Gehlot felt that our address to the farmers on the highway was not enough and that we should go into the main chowk of the village. After spending a little time talking to farmers at the bus station on the highway, we went into the village – the rally in the village streets drew much attention. Farmers here were also very receptive – the demand for a Farmers Income Commission found a loud endorsement.

Before leaving the village, we met with Mahavir Gahlot, the father of Narendra Kumar and veteran freedom fighter. He lamented the fact that the country did not aim to fulfill the dreams of people like Gandhi. This 95-year old told us about the one time that he got to see Gandhi in person in Pune and talked about the number of times he went to jail during the independence struggle.

We then left for Jodhpur.

The day began at 3 am, as per plan. There was not enough hot water nor was it hot enough; however, Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal’s (a Punjabi engineer who returned from New Zealand after a bout of chronic illness to take up natural farming here) wonderful tea made up for the little practical problems related to waking up so early and taking a cold bath in Rajasthan in the middle of winter.

The first event was somewhat surreal. We joined the Prabhat Pheri that is taken up by scores of citizens of Dhaban village. We reached the village at the promised time, at 5.15 am and were welcomed warmly in the Gurudwara. The priest wished the yatra all success and then we set off on the Prabhat Pheri. Little puppies, boys and girls, men and women and all the Kisan Swaraj Yatris were part of a one and a half hour long walk around the village streets…..There was much singing of both Shabad Kirtans and Bhajans. The communal harmony being built here was very much evident. Many families welcomed the Prabhat Pheri with lamps lit outside their homes. It was a beautiful sight to behold. No one felt cold, incidentally. It was warm glowing feeling inside. Some came out to specially welcome the Yatra people. Gurjeet Singh’s which had a bereavement in the family just three days ago did not hesitate to come out with their sweets to welcome the Yatra folks. The streets were all swept clean by the women of the houses that we walked past. Little babies, straddled on the hips of their parents were also out to greet the early morning walkers. When it all ended in the Gurudwara, Aarti Pankharaj, Pankaj Bhushan and Kavitha Kuruganti spoke to the villagers at length, including more than hundred women who gathered. The villagers were touched by the efforts being put in by the Kisan Swaraj Yatris in pursuing the cause they have taken up. Several of them were keen on joining the Rajghat event.

We then visited the natural farm (kinnow and grapes orchard and wheat farms) of Kishan Jakhar, who is following the zero-budget farming principles spread by Subhash Palekar ji. He also heads the Khet Kalyan Morcha which as around ten thousand members to resolve the local issues of farmers here. The farm visit however took longer than we thought. The MP, Karnataka and Andhra farmers in the team were full of questions about various practices adopted.

We rushed to Hanumangarh town and we were already running more than an hour late by then. Here, at the Bhagat Singh Chowk, there was an impromptu meeting, which collected a crowd soon enough (Mr Ashok Mathur of Dainik Lokmat was there to receive us and accompany us through the next set of events). Mr Arun Khileri who is the Chair of the Agriculture Marketing Board and Mr Goswami, the Vice Chair of the Municipal Corporation were there to welcome the Yatris and there was the presence of electronic media persons by the time we began the meeting.

From here, we moved to Shri Ganganagar town where Kisan Morcha people (Mr Tej Kumar and others) and NHCPM representatives (Mr Maniram Punia) who did years of work supporting the local communities’ rights over their resources including atrocities by the Indian defence services in the area, the non-payment of compensation to tenant farmers and agricultural workers for the landmines placed in agricultural fields, the issue of non-supply of irrigation water which was picked up by farmers in Gharsana and neighboring villages, the subsequent police firing a few years back where seven farmers had to lay down their lives and so on.

After a rushed meeting in Shri Ganganagar outside the Collector’s office where we had a small discussion on whether it is better to continue with the interaction with the farmers present there on the issue of Monsanto’s tie-up with the state government (Project Golden Rays, for the spread of hybrid maize with tribal farmers in five districts of the state) or move to Gharsana village, where farmers would be waiting for us, we rushed to Gharsana. The plan sent to us mentioned that it was fifty kilometers away – then we discovered that it is actually one hundred and seventy kilometers away! Some of us raced on the desert roads, close to the international border, so that we can catch at least some farmers in Gharsana village. Starting from five pm, we started getting calls that farmers are returning to their villages since the last buses that would take them to their villages are leaving! By the time we reached Gharsana, it was 6.30 pm and there were around 20 farmers still waiting for us. We sat in the cold and discussed the irrigation-related issues of the local farmers and shared what the Kisan Swaraj Yatra was about. Farmers assured us that they are not likely to fall into the trap of MNCs here and that even Bt Cotton did not make much inroads here.

After a meeting that lasted for nearly one and a half hours here, we traveled a long distance again to reach Urmul Setu’s campus at around 11.30 pm and have the second meal of the day, before calling it a day.

We began our day in the Goniyana Gurudwara where we spent the night after the Jaitu meeting. Here, we emphasized on why it is important for urban consumers to engage with issues of food and farmers. Ananthoo of ReStore pointed out that we have gradually moved to a system where consumers have stopped thinking about their food, where it is coming from and the problems of the people who are producing and supplying that food; similarly, farmers have been compelled to a location where they can think about only that season and maximizing yields and forget whether they are making the food that we all consume more and more toxic. It is time that we changed this so that the health problems of urban consumers can be addressed at the production level itself and so that farmers’ problems can also be solved at the same time. Aarti Pankharaj shared the experiences from the yatra with the gathering of farmers and consumers here.

We then moved to the Virasat Mela in Bhatinda. However, due to the lack of an effective public address system here, many of us were very unhappy that we lost an opportunity to communicate with the thousands of people who were milling around in the Mela. We did not spend much time here and left for Mehta village.

Here, Jagdeesh Papra’s team was already singing thought-provoking songs when we reached there. Here, Pankaj Bhushan, Kavitha Kuruganti and Kishan Jakhar (well-known natural farmer from Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan) spoke. The crowd responded well and wanted to come to Delhi for the December 11th event. Further, farmers like Jagminder Singh and Gurvinder Singh came forward to adopt ecological farming in the village. Almost all the farmers present there said that they will conserve traditional seeds.

We moved on to Jaisinghwala village – we were running late and we were told that around 100 motorcyclists were waiting in Sangariya village, to welcome the Kisan Swaraj Yatra into Rajasthan. Here, due to the sense of feeling rushed, we presented our messages crisply and did not take much time to interact with the farmers who have been waiting for some time, unfortunately. Balwinder Singh Jeera, one of the Yatris with us, took the crowd to his home and fed everyone delicious snacks along with the ubiquitous big tumbler of tea.

Umendra Dutt of Kheti Virasat Mission and Kavitha Kuruganti then rushed to Kheoyali village, next to Badal village, so that we could interact with some media persons there. The bus followed us closely. We tried to wrap up this meeting quickly too, given that people were waiting for us in Sangariya. However, just as we were figuring out how to reach there even if we are delayed, we were told that the programme has been cancelled since dusk has settled in, cold was setting in and people had to go back to their respective villages.

Overall, it was a day that could have been planned better and coordinated better. Wherever we found time to interact with farmers, it was very productive. We slept in a dharamshala in Sangariya and our day was to begin at 5 am the next morning, in village Dhaban. This meant that we had to get up at 3 am, to take our bath, pack up and leave! Everyone settled in for an early night.

It was a wonderful setting under the trees and a weak sun, in the Gurudwara campus of Bhotna village of Barnala district. Here, there are several organic farmers and the women are trying to bring back millet-based foods into their kitchens. They also try and grow vegetables without chemicals for household consumption.

We got down a couple of kilometers from the village and started a rally which soon became a long rally
through the village streets. The farmers of the village started joining us and several Punjabi slogans started coming out easily. The message of giving up chemicals in agriculture was the most-repeated one here, urging farmers to take up Nanak Kheti. As people started coming out of their homes and standing at tall gates of their courtyards, we started distributing handbills and requesting them all to come into the Gurudwara for the public meeting at 10 O’Clock.

Jagdeesh Papra and his team were singing thought-provoking songs by the time we reached the Gurudwara. Around 120 persons were already seated. As song after song rolled out beautifully, highlighting the plight of “Sone da desh”, about poison being harvested from the land of Punjab now, his message of hope to farmers who are feeling suicidal saying “suicides are not an answer – my farmer friend, take a firm grip over yourself”, telling the farmers that they are indeed warriors, fighting various adversities and feeding the world, the mood got built with messages of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra…. When this team provided support to Ramesh of Andhra Pradesh for his song on how our rulers are mortgaging our country, it truly felt like a pan-Indian yatra.

Pankaj Bhushan gave his usual rousing speech explaining to the gathering all about the Yatra, its objectives and what its demands are. Soon, Mr Balwant Singh Ramuwalia of Lok Bhalai Party (earlier with Akali Dal and formerly a Union Minister) came and Kavitha Kuruganti got to present various facts about the impossibility of the “displacement dream” that our policy makers have for farmers in the country, about Monsanto, about American agriculture, about the plight of farmers in the country today. She urged the farmers to understand the slavery involved in giving up our own seed and agro-diversity and pointed out that the loss of our food sovereignty would be through rural India, unlike during the British rule where urban India walked into slavery while rural India and its adivasi belts put up stiff resistance.

Mr Ramuwalia gave vociferous support to the causes being espoused by the Yatra and congratulated the
more-than-200-persons who had traveled in the Kisan Swaraj Yatra so far to pick up the cause of Food,
Farmers & Freedom. He said he was a personal witness to how the highest offices in the country were
being used to ‘sell away’ the country to others and how our nation’s interests were being sacrificed. He
gave his best wishes to the Yatra organizers and wished them success.

The Punjab President of the Freedom Fighters’ Union spoke about the need to save our sovereignty.

After a multi-course meal in the Gurudwara Sahib’s langar, we left for our next meeting in Jalal village. There were people waiting to welcome us in different locations along the main road including Bajakhana. Surupas were put around the Yatris with much respect and affection to the sounds of “Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal”. Many fruits, much tea and several kinds of sweets were the order of the day.

The last meeting was in Jaitu in Faridkot district. Here, under the able compereship of Harmail Singh ‘Preet’ and in the presence of Sant Rishiram Baba and Sant Krishnanand Baba, the Yatris shared their messages. There were several rounds of felicitations including of around 13 farmers who have taken up organic/natural farming in Punjab.

The meeting, towards the end, had Sardar Sukhdev Singh Badal participating. He used to be the Minister
for Agriculture in the state government earlier. Many sharp questions were posed to him about the environmental health issues in the state, about the state of indebtedness of Punjabi farmers, about depletion and contamination of water, about soil degradation etc.

However, bypassing all the questions asked to him, he talked only about the wrongs of the Union government and how there is not appropriate price support, especially for pulses etc.

We ended up spending the night in the Gurudwara Sahib in Goniyana, which holds the rich traditions of service inherited from Bhai Kanhaiya.

We were on the other side of the highway from Gate 2 of Punjab Agriculture University – a motley crowd of around 250 persons, including some ex-employees of PAU, a few scientists of PAU, famous singers like Manmohan Waris, Dr Inderjit Kaur of Pingalwara Society, Prof Jagmohan Singh (grand nephew of Bhagat Singh), Sant Sukhjit Singh Seechewal, Dr Arun Mittra of Doctors for Peace & Development, Umendra Dutt of Kheti Virasat Mission, senior media representatives etc. When the Yatris came in and went straight to the stage to shout slogans like “PAU Dhokha Hai, Dhakka Maaro Mauka Hai”, “PAU Band Karo” etc., there was much unease in the students and others who had come from PAU, some in support of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra cause and some out of curiosity to understand what the protest against PAU was all about. We had to explain that PAU in any case will become irrelevant if they don’t stop the monopolistic onslaught of corporations like Monsanto – how many takers are there for the hybrid maize varieties that have been released by public sector bodies in the country so far and how come Monsanto holds a huge chunk of the hybrid maize seed market today? “What is the point in taxpayers supporting universities like PAU when their technologies either destroy the environment and make our food toxic, or find no takers ultimately amongst farmers”, we argued. If PAU does not reform itself, does not look back and draw up a balance sheet of where it went wrong with its ‘Green Revolution technologies’ which ended up providing huge markets to big corporations while the very productive base of farmers got eroded, if it does not draw lessons for the future, if it does not realize that the sustainability lens has to be applied while deploying any technology, then it is obvious that it is anti-farmer and anti-Nature, we argued. What about the fact that universities like PAU are after all located not in a vacuum but situated in society and have to follow what people are saying – isn’t that what democracy is all about?

Earlier, Rajbir Singh of All India Pingalwara Society, which has very successfully adopted the principles and practices of Zero Budget Natural Farming propagated by Shri Subhash Palekar, threw a challenge at PAU from the high stage. He said that he would like to see any plot in PAU or anywhere following PAU’s recommendations look as good as his farm which has been converted into a ‘natural farm’ or yield such healthy plants or produce. He threw a challenge on the economics of his farm and PAU plots.

The first event of the day was an interaction with the citizens of Khanna mandi. Here, we met with a retired Senior Entomologist of PAU who exhorted Punjabi farmers to shift to natural farming and save themselves and their environment. He said that the recommendations of several pesticides was indiscriminate and that the government has no mechanisms by which it can stop injudicious use of such toxic chemicals.

The last event of the day was at Dhudike, the historical village which was the birth place of Lala Lajpat Rai and several other revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives for gaining independence for this nation. It was a cold, slightly-foggy evening and soon, we shifted to a warmer location and had an interactive session with the farmers. The issue of irrigation water for this area cropped up and we moved on to talking about groundwater utilization, water-intensive crops and practices. It was a surprise to hear that not a single farmer here has even heard about SRI methods. The effectiveness of the one-sided indoctrination of the mainstream agricultural establishment and corporations was very apparent in this one example.

The issue of farm indebtedness, crop pricing etc., were also discussed in detail here. One Mr Hakam Singh shared his experience of contract farming with PepsiCo for Basmati rice. Though the agreement was for Pepsi to procure the rice from him at Rs. 2200/- per quintal, the company paid him only Rs. 1500/-, he informed.
An agriculture scientist present in the meeting pointed out that we also need to look into issues of agricultural workers since the ones who are committing suicides are not just farmers but also agri workers, who are also involved in tenant-farming.

Umendra Dutt explained at length how the markets of seed and agriculture are being eyed by big corporations. He said that the profits to be made from royalties on “roti” (our food) would be far higher than the royalties that Bill Gates earned on his way to becoming the richest man on Earth.

He also shared with everyone that all American leaders, including George Bush and then the Secretary of State whose domain was foreign policy mainly, are eyeing our agri-resources and that is the reason why they make repeated visits to our agri-universities and seed banks.

The message of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra was very well received here, overall, and the farmers resolved to make changes in their farming.

We then went to Tallewal village to spend the night in the Gurudwara there.