Though Agriculture Included In 'Essential Services', Farmers Face Harassment From Police And Govt Officials : Plea In SC

A petition has been filed in Supreme Court raising the plight of farmers, the rural population and the agricultural labour-force of the country in wake of the nationwide lockdown which had to be enforced due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) elaborates on the wide range of grievances being faced by those working in the agriculture sector and seeks immediate intervention of the Court to ensure an urgent redressal of these issues.

Though the original lockdown order and subsequent guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on March 24 and March 25, 2020, did not mention farmers and agricultural work as "essential services" to be exempted from the lockdown, the 2nd Addendum issued on March 27 did categorise them in that bracket.

The petitioners, an engineer and an advocate, have submitted that despite being categorised by the Centre as "essential services", farmers and their families continue to face several hardships. They are unable to work in the fields, urge the petitioners, due to the Centre's lack of coordination with local governments in implementing its orders.

Alluding to them as "the most vulnerable category who have been affected by the lockdown", the petition highlights the kind of harassment being faced by farmers at the hands of the police, problems related to supply-chain of agricultural produce, harvest related issues and the lack of sufficient financial assistance during the lockdown amongst others.

With regard to harassment, it has been informed that farmers are unable to secure lockdown passes as local authorities are creating hindrances. Furthermore, workers have been borne the brunt of "mindless, over-zealous violence from police personnel."

The petitioners seek clear orders to police authorities to stop such harassment and further orders regarding awareness about availability of lockdown passes have also been sought. In order to ensure farmers can perform their functions smoothly, such passes must be made easily available to them, adds the petition.

The petitioners have also thrown light on the practical problems related to the supply chain of agricultural produce. It has been stated that the harvesting season for Rabi crops such as wheat and barley is approaching, but there are difficulties in transporting seeds to the farmers and products to the sellers due to lack of backend support. "While the govt has issued an order that mandis should be allowed to run, without any backend support of services and transport it is a reasonable apprehension that this order may get confined to the files."

The plea goes on to seek the Court's intervention in ensuring that the farmer receives a fair price for his produce while the consumer also gets access to essential commodities at a reasonable rate. It is argued that the producer has had to sell vegetables at "throw away prices" since the lockdown, yet the prices in cities are "skyrocketing due to lack of supply." The Court has been requested to direct the Centre to take steps to curb practices like hoarding, black marketing and speculative trading which result in the price rise of agricultural produce

The petitioners also address the struggle faced by agricultural workers in meeting their daily needs. Even though the government has made provisions, a large number of people are not being able to procure ration, and even if they do, the packs are not sufficient to sustain the family for more than a week, it is urged. Additionally it is informed that accessing funds in rural areas has become a concern due to the closure of financial institutions in remote areas where e-payment platforms are not widely used there.

The plea further contends that this sector has not been provided with COVID-19 specific relief schemes and, as such, there is a lack of financial assistance from the government. "There is a lack of financial security or reimbursement mechanism for the farmers who are suffering losses/damages due to COVID-19 and the lockdown. It is humbly submitted that the relief package unveiled promises an advance payment of ₹2,000 from the direct cash transfer scheme (PM-KISAN) and a moratorium on loan repayments which is not enough for cash strapped farmers."

The petition seeks directions to all States and UTs to ensure that all local authorities and police adhere to the guidelines issued by the Centre, vide the aforementioned 2nd Addendum, with regard to the agriculture sector and related activities being considered "essential services" during the lockdown.

To this end, a detailed prayer has been made seeking a slew of specific directions to the authorities to ensure various administrative aspects are clearly sorted out to effectuate the letter of the guidelines on the ground.