Bharat Bandh Tomorrow: Farmers’ Nationwide Protest on February 16. Will Banks, Offices, Schools Remain Closed?

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Several farmers’ unions, including the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), have called for a Gramin Bharat Bandh or nationwide strike on Friday, February 16, to press for their demands before the Centre. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha urged all like-minded farmers’ organisations to unite and take part in the February 16 Gramin Bharat Bandh called by the central trade unions.

The Bharat bandh call comes even as hundreds of farmers marching from Punjab have been stopped at the state’s border with Haryana near Ambala, about 200 kilometres away from Delhi. Haryana security forces have used tear gas on them to try and disperse them. A Delhi Police source said they are determined to not let the protesters enter the national capital should they advance.

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

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

Transportation, agricultural activities, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) rural works, private offices, village shops, and rural industrial and service sector institutions are expected to remain closed due to farmer unions’ nationwide strike on Friday, February 16.

Some reports claimed that emergency services such as ambulance operations, newspaper distribution, marriage, medical shops, students going for board exams, etc., are unlikely to be affected during the strike.

What are farmers demanding?

Farmers are back on the streets of Punjab and Haryana with their demand for a law guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price or MSP for their produce.

The farmers also want to strengthen the MGNREGS, reinstate the old pension scheme, and ensure pension and social security for all workers in both formal and informal sectors.

The SKM has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a MSP for crops based on the Swaminathan formula of C2 50 (input cost of capital 50 per cent), legal guarantee of procurement, debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff and no smart metres.

They also demanded free 300 units of power for farming for domestic use and shops, comprehensive crop insurance, and a hike in pensions to ₹10,000 per month among others.

What happened to govt-appointed panel on MSP formed after 2021 farmers’ protest?

Emergency services such as ambulance operations, marriage, medical shops, school, etc., will not be affected during the Bharat Bandh on Friday.

A number of public intellectuals and artists issued a joint statement on Wednesday in support of the joint call by the workers and farmers for a sectoral industrial strike and Grameen Bharat Bandh on February 16.

A total of 34 people signed the joint statement, which appeals to people from all walks of life “to extend all support to this momentous action” of the farmers and the workers.

Prabhat Patnaik, economist; Irfan Habib, historian; Nasir Tyabji, economic historian; Anil Chandra, cultural activist; and P Sainath, journalist, are some of the people who signed the statement.

“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 statement read.

The statement claimed that the farmers and workers have joined hands to create a far more powerful force to challenge the government’s ever-more aggressive offensive on their lives and livelihoods and its poisonous communal propaganda to disrupt any united struggle. This force will gain increasing momentum as it takes its campaign to the farthest corners of the country, the statement said.

‘Dilli Chalo’ protest

Farmers from Punjab are camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana seeking to march towards Delhi to press the Centre to accept their demands.

The Delhi Police has placed orders for more than 30,000 tear gas shells, an official said, as the force prepares to prevent Punjab farmers from entering the national capital under their ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest.

2020 farmers’ protest

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

Police had to rush logistics in 2020 to check the entry of the farmers moving in a procession of tractors.

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