However intense the efforts might be that are currently on to construct the narrative that the raging agitations against the farm bills are being engineered by the farmers’ organizations from a particular state only (read Punjab), Supreme Court’s observation that came on Wednesday afternoon says otherwise. The apex court has expressed apprehension that the issue may very soon take a pan-national colour if efforts to resolve it are not taken up fast. It’s a matter of supposition if the Centre wakes up now and delivers the needful, but, the after-effects of this growing discontent which are getting manifested through protests and blocking of major communication thoroughfares in Delhi and beyond are just getting prominently visible, with trade and commerce the hardest hit.

In what can be construed as a reprimand of the Centre, the SC has said that talks so far between the Central government and the farmers’ representatives have not yielded desired results. Harshening the tone, the three-judge bench hearing a couple of petitions which sought removal of farmers protesting at the Delhi-NCR borders observed that future rounds of discussions are “bound to fail again.” Again, as if making an indirect recognition of the ‘failure’ of the interlocutors in all the preceding rounds of talks, the bench said it is mulling on the formation of a committee that will be composed of representatives from both the warring factions- the farmers as well as the Central government. This is yet another instance perhaps when the Executive has failed to play its role in a desirable way and the judiciary has to step in. Meanwhile, in another development which can only be observed as ironic to the context, leaders from the corporate world, the purported beneficiaries of the farm laws, have aired concern over the ceaseless agitation by farmers. While expressing apprehension that prolonged disruption of supply chain will affect the country’s post-COVID economic recovery, the industry bodies have estimated that daily losses due to disruption in transport is currently between between Rs 3,000-3,500 crore which are big figures indeed for an economy that is struggling to get out of the woods. Complexity of the situation can be understood from the fact that all industries, irrespective of being big, medium or small depending heavily on timely arrival of input components are en bloc sufferers. The common man will soon feel the pinch as imbalance of the demand-supply factor for daily essentials will fuel inflation.

With the point of extreme criticality now reached, for the sake of the country’s economy which is already in a stage of nervousness, the Centre being the big stakeholder in the issue should start thinking of reviewing its obstinate stand.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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