On ‘Paper Farmers’

The constant efforts made by those who do not see any merit in the farmers’ protests against the three farm laws have put a ring of ambiguity around the category of the farmer. In this regard, it is interesting to note that those who seek to deny genuineness to the category do not define who a genuine farmer is. Perhaps, such supporters seem to be using the farm laws as the single most important criterion to unilaterally establish the authenticity of being a farmer. Thus, according to this official line of thinking, whosoever supports these laws are the real farmers and the rest are either “fake” or “terrorists.” But in this regard, it is interesting to note that the government seems to be using not only moral means to render the category of farmer ambiguous but also to hold on to the laws with stubbornness by resorting to subtle mechanisms of nominating “favourable” members to the committee as suggested by the Supreme Court. As the Editorial this week on the farmers’ response to such a committee suggests, the farmers are sceptical about the objective and fairness of the deliberation that would be underway through this committee.

However, farmers, using Gandhian methods of protest, have also offered a steady response to deflate such a ploy. As a part of this counter-characterisation, the farmers have termed these self-proclaimed agricultural experts “paper farmers.” Taking cue from the protesting farmers’ expressions, one could decode the meaning of “paper farmer,” which need not be confused with the other fake category called “farmers on paper.”