Chandigarh : The travails of the farming community so far viewed with indifference by the urbanities are now at the centre stage since it is being widely felt that something is amiss in the demand and supply food chain.
This was evident in the wide coverage of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) at its two-day Kisan Mukti Sansad, which concluded in Delhi yesterday. It was the first time that the protesters highlighted only two demands — implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report and a complete debt waiver.
The social media was abuzz with the problems being faced by the peasantry and the active role played by young volunteers who took to modern information tools like Facebook and Twitter to plead the cause of the farmers.
The presence of youngsters and women even surprised the organisers of over 184 organisations from across the country. So far, such protests were largely viewed as periodic shows of resentment against the unfair farm policies and were largely ignored by the urban population.
This time, the huge participation of women, who head over 20 per cent of the rural farm holdings, was an eye opener. So was the case of youngsters who virtually covered all aspects of the protest, unheard of in the past. The traditional banners and slogans of yore had given way to slick posters highlighting the plight of the farming community.