On Kisan Diwas, Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi decide to share the story of a farming couple in their 90s residing in Pulpally, Wayanad. In the video posted on Twitter, the couple, Mary and Mathew, share their pain and the hardships they face as farmers.
Mathew says that the current state of farmers is quite bad. “We are farming from dawn to dusk but are not getting wages for the hard work we are putting in,” says Mathew. He continues: “Currently, the price of pepper is Rs 350/kg and the price of yam is around Rs 900. The price of coffee has declined from Rs 65 and we are getting hardly anything now.”
Mary, who helps Mathew in farming, says the agriculture is their only living. “Our lives are dependent on agriculture. It is only living we have,” she says.
Mathew adds that it is currently difficult for farmers to live in India. “When Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister, we had got a fair price for our products, but now, farmers are going through hardships. India has become unliveable for farmers now,” says Mathew, adding that without farmers there is no India.
Mathew and Mary’s story is one of the many stories of farmers in India. One can only imagine the farmers' plight, as they are protesting against three farm laws. The central government's unwillingness to either repeal these laws or hear the farmers' demand is quite shocking. The core demand of farmers in India is that the central government must repeal the three laws. As Mathew says, without farmers, there is no India.
