THE  apple growers in Himachal Pradesh are protesting since July 11, 2022, on their  20 demands. The GST on apple cartons was increased from 12 per cent to 18 per cent. Therefore the cost of a carton increased by Rs 25 per carton and the cost of trays increased by Rs 200 per bundle. The cost of other packaging materials also increased from 32 per cent to 80 per cent. 

This caused anger among the apple farmers who are already in crisis, due to the implementation of neo-liberal policies of the state and central governments. 

The cost of production of the apple is continuously increasing and the rates of their apples in the market are decreasing every year. Thus, their income is also going down every year. The farmers are not able to get even the cost of production of their produce. 

MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO STATE’S ECONOMY

Apple is a Rs 5500 crore industry in Himachal Pradesh and it contributes about 13 per cent to the GDP of the state. Around 1.75 lac families are involved directly in apple cultivation in the state and indirectly it gives employment to many more people. 

The BJP state government is implementing anti-apple farmers' policies in the state for the last 4.5 years. The pesticides used in horticulture and agriculture were given by the horticulture and agriculture departments of the state government through their sale centres at the lower levels. 

The horticulture department used to purchase the recommended pesticides and distributed these to farmers at subsidised rates. Last year the state government changed this policy to a direct benefit transfer scheme(DBT). 

But no farmer could get any money in this scheme. The farmers were forced to purchase spurious and costly pesticides from the open markets. This caused a huge financial burden on the apple growers. The fertiliser cost also increased three times in the state due to the withdrawal of the subsidy. And in the markets, the APMC Act 2005 is not implemented properly by the APMC committees of the various markets due to which the commission agents are exploiting the farmers and  Rs 20 to Rs 150 per box is illegally taken from the growers by the commission agents.

The government is not paying the money to the apple growers since last year. The government has purchased ‘cull-grade’ apples from the farmers under MIS(Market Intervention Scheme) at a cost of Rs 9.50 per kilogram.  All these factors increased the contradiction between the growers and the state government. This is reflected in the protest of apple growers. 

APPLE AGITATION

The Seb Utpadak Sangh affiliated with the Himachal Kisan Sabha was formed in April this year in the state. TheSeb Utpadak Sangh and Kisan Sabha are of the Sanyukta Kisan Manch which was formed in 2020 by the initiative of Kisan Sabha to fight the demands of the apple growers. It is a joint platform of 28 organisations which are related to apple cultivation.

The call to fight the 20 demands of apple growers were given from Sanyukta Kisan Manch on July 11, 2022, at the lower level. This call was observed in the Rohru sub-division and around 2,000 apple growers participated in the protest. The next call was given on July 20, 2022. This call was observed in many blocks of the states. A memorandum containing 20 demands was submitted to the state government through the BDO’s and SDM’s.

The main demands were to abolish GST on apple cartons and other packaging material, stop the DBT scheme and release the pending money of growers etc.

The July 20th actions were successful in the state, from these actions, a call for a 'gherao secretariat' in Shimla was given for August 5, 2022.  To stop the farmers from coming to Shimla for the August 5 rally the government called the growers on July 28 in Shimla for the meeting. The chief minister was himself present in the meeting. There he assured that the DBT scheme will be changed to the original scheme of giving certified pesticides through the horticulture and agriculture department, the last year pending money/dues of the growers will be released within a week period and also a committee will be formed to decide the rate for the various companies for the purchase of apples from the growers. 

This was an important demand because Adani Agri Fresh, Big Basket, All Fresh and many other companies used to purchase apples from the growers and are exploiting the farmers by deciding rates themselves. 

The growers decided to gherao secretariat on August 5, because the attitude of the government was not to solve the demands of the growers. The government’s declaration was to stop the farmers from joining the rally. 

On August 5, about 5000 growers from different apple growing areas reached the secretariat and gheraoed it for 7 hours. 

Later the meeting of the growers' representative with the chief secretary and others was called by the chief secretary and he requested the committee members of the SKM for a 10- day time to fulfil the demands. 

The Sanyukta Kisan Manch gave a call of 'jail bharo' on  August 17 in Shimla if the government failed to resolve their demands up to August 16, 2022. More than 500 growers reached Mall Road, Shimla and gave court arrest because the government did not fulfil its promise within 10 days. Around 100 protesters were arrested by the police and released after six hours. A case was also registered against the leaders of SKM.

The next call is to gherao Adani's 3 apple purchase centres in Rohru, Sainj and Bithal in Shimla district on  August 25, 2022. The major demand is that the Adani Agri Fresh company should increase the apple procurement rates by 30 per cent which the company has declared for this year's procurement. Because the cost of production of the apple has increased by more than 30 per cent from the last year's cost. Adani Agri Fresh has declared the last year's rate for the procurement of apples even for the current year. The SKM is organising and mobilising the growers to make the gherao successful. The Himachal Sab Utpadak Sangh is the main force of the SKM.