National Farmers Day or Kisan Diwas is observed on December 23 every year across the country to praise the farmers as they are the spine of India.
Kisan Diwas was chosen to honour the birth anniversary of the fifth Prime Minister of India, Choudhary Charan Singh. He was born in Noorpur of Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur. People refer to him as the ‘champion of India’s peasants’.
Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence movement motivated by Mahatma Gandhi. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces in 1937. He took a keen interest in the laws that were detrimental to the village economy. Charan Singh became notable in Uttar Pradesh from the 1950s after he drafted and ensured the passage of revolutionary land reform laws. It was in 1959 when he first opposed then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s “socialistic and collectivist land policies”. He defected from the Congress party in 1967 and sided with the opposition. Charan Singh became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1967 and later in 1970.
Choudhary Charan Singh was the Prime Minister of India between July 1979 and January 1980. During his short time as Prime Minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh worked hard for the welfare of Indian farmers. He had introduced several welfare schemes for the farmers. This is why the government, in 2001, decided to mark Charan Singh’s birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas.
An Indian farmer should be respected by everyone. It is he who produces grains and vegetables for the citizens of the country. Throughout the year, the Indian farmer remains busy in tilling the fields, sowing seeds and reaping the crops. Indeed, his is a very busy and hard life. To spread awareness about farmer’s issues in the country, Charan Singh founded the Kisan Trust on December 23, 1978. Not only that, in 1939, Charan Singh also introduced the Debt Redemption Bill in order to give farmers relief from the moneylenders.
He was serving as the Agriculture minister in 1952 and he abolished the zamindari system, later in 1953, the Consolidation of Holdings Act was also passed. Under this Act, fragmented land holdings were pooled and then re-allotted to the farmers in a way that each got a single farm. Charan Singh also made effort to free the marginal farmers from being exploited.
Chaudhary Charan Singh was committed to the farm sector and favoured small and cottage industries. For his association with the farming community, his memorial in New Delhi was named the Kisan Ghat. Due to the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19, the Delhi Police has denied permission to the Rashtriya Lok Dal to pay tributes to Charan Singh on his 118th birth anniversary at Kisan Ghat.
On National Farmers Day, several debates, forums, discussions, quizzes, and competitions are organized in states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh that are actively engaged in farming practices. The representatives, participants and the Agricultural department of the State Government are invited to discuss the various issues related to farmers and cultivation and also to give suggestions and solutions, information related to various government policies, use of new techniques and use of scientific methods to increase crop yield.
India is called the land of farmers, as most of the people of the country are directly or indirectly involved in the agriculture sector. It would not be wrong to say that ‘Indian farmers’ are the backbone of the economy and the farmers are indeed the beloved children of Mother India. People from all the religions like Hindu, Christian, Islam and Sikh live in India & they are engaged in various occupations, but agriculture is the main occupation.
National Farmers Day is dedicated to all the farmers of India to increase their enthusiasm and also to generate eminent respect in the citizens of the country. Farmers grow food even after facing the utmost difficulties. So, they should be helped and appreciated at the same time.
