Six women’s organizations have together written an open letter to the PMO asking the GOI to withdraw the three disputed farm bills. The letter stated that women have not been recognized as farmers, yet they contribute to the farming sector with equal participation to that of the men. They also highlighted that the women are the invisible contributors in a substantial chunk to the farming sector, comprising 33% of the agricultural labour force and 48% of the self-employed farmers.

The letter underlined that the farm sector is already in distress because of unplanned lockdown and faulty economic policies of the central government, which has resulted in a higher preponderance of indebtedness and increased cases of farmers’ suicides. As a result, the letter added, the women in the families with cases of suicides are in a more vulnerable state than ever before. The women generally are not the holders of land titles, and hence do not receive any help from the GOI to cope with the double cataclysms of indebtedness and suicides. The situation, as stated in the letter, has become even grimmer when the prices of the essential commodities are rising unsustainably in an environment of historically high unemployment and hunger. The farm laws and their errors would lead to the loot of the farmers and their families due to a decreased level of decentralization and the dismantling of the PDS as highlighted empathically in the letter.

The farmers have consistently demanded that a proper MSP system and loan waiver arrangement be made as per the Swaminathan Commission report, as mentioned in the letter. But, the present government has continuously denied and disregarded these demands which have led farmers being pushed towards misery. The letter also condemned the tear- gassing and using of water cannons against the farmers pressing for their genuine demands, specifically pointing towards the barbaric nature of the BJP-RSS combine which clearly guides the policy of GOI.

The letter stressed for a ten point demand which includes repealing of the three central farm laws, stopping the promotion of contract farming, fixation of an MSP system, universalization of the PDS system, loan waivers, mid-day meal scheme inter alia. The organizations which wrote the letter to the PMO include All India democratic women’s association (AIDWA), National Federation of Indian women (NFIW), All India Progressive women’s association (AIPWA), Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan (PMS), All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS) and the All India Agragami Mahila Samiti (AIAMS).