BENGALURU: Over 800 academics, scientists and researchers from various educational institutes have signed a solidarity statement in support of the farmers’ movement against farm laws enacted by the Centre.
The signatories are from various research institutes and universities across the country, including the Indian Institute of Science, IITs, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences.
The signature and fundraising campaign was initiated by a group of IISc students under the organisation, Students with Farmers. They expressed deep concern over the ongoing crisis in the farm sector. “The seasonal nature of farming renders farmers deeply vulnerable to exploitation at the time of harvest. We strongly believe that real reforms are sorely needed to protect livelihoods of millions of farmers who bring food to our plate, despite enormous hardships,” the scientists said in the statement.
“The reforms, touted by the government as historic and sweeping, were passed without much deliberation or discussion in parliamentary committees, unlike other successful acts that often go through a year of deliberation before being passed,” they said. They pointed out that the reforms have been enacted without consulting farmers or farmer organisations, who will be impacted the most by the reforms.
“Farmers’ organisations across the nation have expressed genuine concerns regarding the reforms and the government has flatly refused to acknowledge these. We are particularly concerned that these reforms render small farmers vulnerable to exploitation by large-scale buyers by creating unregulated markets. Another concern is that even though the protests were peaceful, the government has responded to these with force, high-handedness,” they said.
They called it a golden opportunity for the government to listen to its people, to protect the right to peaceful and non-violent dissent by farmers, engage in constructive dialogue, and enact genuine reforms to protect small farmers from exploitation.