Provoking a Million Mutinies? |
On 10 December 2025, Tibbi tehsil in Rajasthan became the site of a face-off between protesting farmers and the police. Thousands of farmers had gathered from surrounding villages for a ‘mahapanchayat’, called in opposition to the construction of an ethanol plant in Hanumangarh district.
Following the ‘mahapanchayat’, the farmers left for the factory site on foot, accompanied by a convoy of tractors. The police used teargas, lathis and plastic bullets to stop the protestors—who had brought down the boundary wall—but fell back before the massive crowd. Several vehicles were subsequently torched and scores injured on both sides.
Unnerved by the clash, the administration informed Chandigarh-based Dune Ethanol Pvt Ltd that work must stop on what is being touted as Asia’s biggest ethanol project. While the industrial house insists the plant will neither contaminate groundwater nor pollute the air, farmers know this defies both experience and common sense.
Balwan Poonia, former MLA and joint secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha is emphatic when he says that ethanol factories are more polluting than oil refineries. “Scientific data shows that ethanol factories release hazardous air pollutants, and consume huge quantities of water. To produce one kilo of ethanol you need 2,800 litres of water! We studied the impact of the ethanol plant set up in Ganganagar district and found that its toxic waste water also pollutes the groundwater,” he added.
After one-and-a-half years of peaceful protests—which went unheeded by government and company alike—the farmers of Hanumangarh had clearly reached breaking point. At the time of writing, another ‘mahapanchayat’ had been scheduled for 17 December.
A string of farmers’ protests from Rajasthan to Odisha have gone largely unnoticed. Local and regional media have been reporting what mainstream media has pointedly ignored. The same old issues are front and centre: distress sales, shortage of fertilisers, inability to sell produce even at minimum support price (MSP), dwindling groundwater, acquisition of........