On 12th January, the Haryana police arrested Nodeep Kaur, a Dalit labour activist while she was protesting against the non-payment of wages at Kundali industrial area (KIA) at Sonipat, Haryana. Kaur is from Punjab and the leader of Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, who is supporting ongoing farmer’s protests at the Haryana and UP border. US Vice President's niece Meena Harris tweeted her picture asking her to release brought her to notice. Farmer’s uprising circling National Capital got momentum and support across the globe, which asked the Central government to repeal three farms laws, which was passed through ordinance last year. United farmers organizations had 11 rounds of talks with the government and submitted 8 point charter. That demand includes the law on Minimum Support Price or MSP and repeals those three laws, which are related to open market trading, contractual farming, and excluding many products from the essential commodity list. The one issue, which is still missing from the farmer’s protest and on their agenda is Landless farmers or farm laborers issues. The 2011 census data shows that 71% of Dalits are landless laborers. In rural areas, 58.4% of Dalit households do not own land at all. Landless farmers belong to Dalit and Backward community with depressed wages and vulnerable to caste atrocity on daily basis.

The host of this episode of The Suno India Show, Prashant Kanojia spoke to Nodeep Kaur’s sister, Rajvir Kaur and her mother, Swarnjit Kaur. We also spoke to farmer leaders and protestors from the protest site and a journalist from Bihar. While explaining how the farm laws would affect landless farmers, they also highlighted the issues related to landless farmers and labourers, which has been undermined and is not on the agenda of the ongoing protest. They explain how these farmers are not recognized as farmers and how they could widen the protest across India.