Farmers Day or National Farmers Day is celebrated across the country on 23 December to commemorate the birth anniversary of the fifth Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh. He held the position between 1979 and 1980. Apart from this, this day is celebrated to honor the contribution of Indian farmers and to glorify their importance in the country. This year, the day will be observed in the backdrop of the withdrawal of three controversial agricultural laws.
In 2001, the Government of India declared 23 December, the day Chaudhary Charan Singh was born, as National Farmers Day and for all the right reasons.
Why is the day celebrated on the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh?
The decision was taken by the government in 2001 to recognize the contribution of Chaudhary Charan Singh to the upliftment of farmers and development of the agriculture sector. He brought some of the most remarkable reforms in the agricultural sector and has been called by many historians as the ‘champion of the farmers of India’.
Chaudhary Charan Singh: His Roots and the Seeds He Sowed
Chaudhary Charan Singh was born in 1902 in Nurpur, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh in a middle-class farmer family. He earned a bachelor’s degree in science in 1923, followed by a master’s degree from Agra University in 1925. He was also a practitioner of law and an active participant in the country’s freedom struggle.
Born in a middle-class family, Chaudhary Charan Singh was deeply attached to the farmers of the country and wanted to work for rural India.
Chaudhary Charan Singh was the brain behind the land reforms that changed the face of agriculture for good in the country’s largest agricultural state, Uttar Pradesh. Notable among his actions for the agricultural sector was the Debt Redemption Bill 1939, which brought relief to farmers who were indebted to moneylenders. It also had a positive impact on the number of farmer suicides.
Another transformative bill designed by Charan Singh was the Land Holding Act of 1960, which came into force when he was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. The law ensured uniformity in the state by limiting the holdings of one person. He also worked for the Zamindari Abolition Act of 1950 while being the Agriculture Minister of the state.
Chaudhary Charan Singh breathed his last on January 14, 1980. A memorial dedicated to him was built at Raj Ghat and is called ‘Kisan Ghat’.
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