Five-fold rise in farmers’ protests since 2017, says Centre for Science and Environment

Weeks after lakhs of farmers protesting against the three farm laws, observed ‘Black Day’ on the completion of six months of their agitation on May 26, it has come to the fore that India has seen a five time increase in farmers’ protest in just three years (under the Modi government), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has claimed.

As per data released by the CSE, while in 2017 India recorded 34 major protests across 15 states, the number has gone up to 165 protests across 22 states and Union territories.

Every day, as per the CSE, over 28 farm labourers and cultivators commit suicide in the country. In 2019 alone, 5,957 farmer committed suicide as per the data. 4,324 farm labourers also died by suicide, said the CSE.

Saying that “India now has more farm labourers than farmers”, which is “indicative of the sorry state Indian agriculture”, CSE added, “India is sitting atop a massive time-bomb of agrarian crisis and disquiet, and the clock is ticking away.”

“There is drama in numbers, especially when these numbers give you a trend – are things getting better or worse. It is even more powerful when you can use the trend to understand the crisis, the challenge and the opportunity,” said CSE director general Sunita Narain.

“Data collection is important – it is part of the art of governance – but it is equally important that entire data sets are shared and worked upon so that they can be critiqued and through this process used and improved upon,” added Narain.

“This is evident all the more when you see the condition of land records and their maintenance in the country,” said Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of Down To Earth magazine published by the CSE.

“Our analysis shows that 14 states in India have witnessed deterioration in the quality of their land records,” added Mahapatra.