 "Farmers' protest nears a month, women-led stir planned today: Top updates")
On the occasion of International Women's Day on Friday, the women farmers will lead the protest and hold celebrations on the Shambhu and Khanauri borders, where the agitating farmers have been camping for nearly a month, facing resistance from the police.
On International Women Day, they will celebrate on both the Shambhu and Khanauri border points in which the women farmers in large numbers will take part, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said.
The 'Delhi Chalo' farmers' protest was launched on February 13 with the objective of pressing the Narendra Modi government to fulfil 12 key demands of the farmers, including providing a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) on crops. However, the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police have taken elaborate measures to hold the farmers on the borders of the national capital, citing possible threat to law and order due to the agitation.
Top updates on farmers protest:
1) On Wednesday, Pandher expressed his disappointment with the Centre for "not paying heed" to their woes. "It's the 25th day of the fronts running across Punjab-Haryana borders. Our PM went to Kashmir yesterday and the farmers there had a huge hope that there would be some announcement for them. However, they went back to their homes with disappointment," he said. He was referring to PM Modi's ongoing tour of multiple states ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
2) On Women's Day, visuals emerged from Punjab-Haryana's Shambhu border, showing the farmers lined up with their trucks and vehicles in large numbers amid tight security measures. Notably, Section 144 has been imposed in Delhi till March 12 in a bid to prevent unlawful assembly or gathering in the national capital. Other than banning unauthorised rallies and agitations, the Delhi police have also banned tractor trolleys, trucks, or any other vehicles carrying materials, such as sticks, lathis, pandas, swords, and spears, from entering Delhi.
Protest 'not limited' to Punjab-Haryana
3) On the elaborate security measures taken by the Centre to diffuse the agitation, Pandher said on Wednesday that the Centre has admitted that the protest is now nationwide. He also alleged that hundreds of farmers heading to Delhi from various states have been detained. "By deploying heavy force in Delhi, the government has accepted this agitation is now countrywide and not limited to Punjab and Haryana," he said.
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4) Additionally, he claimed that about 100 accounts belonging to farm leaders have been withheld on social media.To accelerate the impact of their protest, the farmers have given a four-hour 'rail roko' countrywide call for March 10. Pandher claimed that farmers have gathered the support of various Khap Panchayats of Haryana as well.
'Rail roko' on March 10
5) Many farmers have begun their journeys to Delhi from the eastern, central and southern parts of the country. They will be reaching Delhi in the next few days if the authorities do not detain them, he said. The 'rail roko' will be held in all districts of Punjab on March 10, he said, adding that he will be in Punjab's Amritsar during that time.
About 200 farm unions are organising the protest under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.