Findings from Rapid Assessment of Basic Amenities at Protest Sites

On January 11, 2021, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) published Findings from Rapid Assessment of Basic Amenities at Protest Sites, which contains its Delhi and Haryana chapters’ findings on the sanitation, water supply, solid waste management and health facilities at five farm protest sites. (JSA is a country-wide movement on healthcare consisting of over 150 organisations, 21 national networks and several state-level units.) Lakhs of farmers, at many sites around Delhi and Haryana, have been protesting against the central government’s three new farm laws – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. These laws were first issued as ordinances on June 5, 2020, then introduced as bills in Parliament on September 14, and rushed through to become Acts by the 20th of that month. JSA conducted this assessment of 201 respondents from December 19 to 22, 2020, at the protest sites in Gazipur, Palwal, Singhu, Shahjahanpur and Tikri. The 22-page report has 11 parts: Introduction (part 1); General observations related to respondents (part 2); Water Supply (part 3); Sanitation (part 4); Menstrual Hygiene (part 5); Water stagnation (part 6); Solid Waste Disposal (part 7); Food, Shelter and Clothing (part 8); Health Issues (part 9); Concluding Observations (part 10) and Demands (part 11).