On 26 Jan, Republic Day of India, on Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM)’s call for a Kisan Tractor Parade, farmers in 484 districts of 27 states and Union Territories participated. Apart from farmers unions and organizations, the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and independent Federations and Associations supported and participated in the parade, thus demonstrating farmer-worker unity at the ground level. Students, youth, women, and others also joined in solidarity. SKM said in a release that participants pledged to ‘intensify the struggle against the pro-corporate, anti-farmer policies of the Modi government and strengthen the secular and democratic character of the Republic of India.’ In Panjab, more than 100 Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda) farmers were detained in Mansa. These farmers wanted to show black flags to state Revenue and Water Supplies Minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa, who had arrived to unfurl the national flag. Calling for a Grameen Bharat Bandh (Rural India Strike) on 16 Feb, SKM noted that the corporatization of agriculture has led to an agrarian crisis that has resulted in 100,474 deaths by suicide among farmers and laborers from 2014-2022, based on the national Crime Records Bureau data. Though $176B worth of debt was written off in the last nine years for corporations, not a single rupee of farmers’ debt has been waived. SKM condemned the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare over their report, which revealed they surrendered $12.7B over the last five years because they did not spend the amount.
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