Punjab farmers under Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) banner plan to march to Chandigarh on May 15, 2024, demanding restoration of loan limits cancelled by cooperative societies and opposing centralisation of cooperative departments by central government. Key demands include implementation of MSP guarantee law, debt waiver, and pension for farmers. The march follows prolonged negotiations with state and central governments over agricultural reforms and farmer welfare measures that remain unaddressed since 2020-21 protests.

The SKM's planned march represents ongoing tensions between farmers and government policies affecting agricultural credit and cooperative structures. Punjab's cooperative societies, traditionally managed at state level, face centralisation under new cooperative ministry guidelines, potentially reducing local autonomy in credit disbursement. Farmers fear this will limit their access to institutional credit, forcing reliance on private moneylenders. The loan limit cancellations have already impacted thousands of farmers who depend on cooperative credit for input purchases and working capital. This agitation connects to broader issues of MSP guarantee, crop insurance reforms, and agricultural debt management. For NABARD, this highlights challenges in rural credit delivery through cooperative channels and financial inclusion metrics. The protest underscores the critical role of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in India's rural finance architecture, where Punjab has over 3,000 PACS serving lakhs of farmers. The centralisation debate affects the three-tier cooperative credit structure that NABARD oversees, potentially disrupting established credit flows and impacting agricultural productivity in India's grain bowl state.