The movement launched by farmer leaders and farmer organizations with the help and cooperation of other workers, employee organizations, non-governmental organizations, intellectuals of the country, gained worldwide attention. People became aware of their rights. The rulers sitting on the throne of Delhi had to listen to the voice of the people. The anti-farmer agricultural laws had to be withdrawn.
The farmer movement ended for some time on the borders of Delhi but is now flaring up again because the government did not accept the demands. The matter reached the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court formed a panel on the situation arising from the complaints and protests of the farmers who were agitating at the Singhu border in Delhi. This panel has submitted an eleven-page report to the Supreme Court.
This panel has said that crises are increasing in agriculture in India. According to the panel, there has been a decrease in pure agricultural productivity and an increase in production costs. There is a lack of facilities for farmers to sell their crops and employment in the agricultural sector has decreased. Small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers are in financial distress. Small farmers are in a state of starvation.
It is worth noting here that 46 percent of the total number of workers in the country is engaged in the agricultural sector and their share in the income is barely 15 percent. Unemployment is so high that it cannot be measured. These facts are hidden, or are being hidden. The tragedy of the agricultural sector is also that the number of family members working without pay is large. Not only this, floods, droughts, heat waves have increased all kinds of burden on agriculture and farmers.
The final report released by the panel is shocking and disturbing. According to it, 4 lakh farmers have committed suicide since 1995. A survey conducted by three universities in Punjab found that between 2000 and 2015, 16,306 farmers and farm laborers committed suicide. Most of these suicides were committed by members of poor, small and landless laborer families. The reason is the heavy burden of debt.
