“Leaving farmers to the mercy of the markets would be like a death sentence to them,” said Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who has spent the last two decades campaigning for income equality for Indian farmers. Many agriculture experts agree that the Indian farming sector needs reforms, but they question the way the Modi government introduced the laws and the corporate involvement in agriculture. While this is a major challenge to his government, Modi’s popularity is still soaring and his approval ratings remain high because of his Hindu-nationalist policies. Since then, common citizens also joined them, and the protests have gathered strength. Some leaders from Modi’s party and India’s freewheeling TV channels, which have long favored government’s Hindu nationalistic policies, have called the farmers “anti-national,” a label often given to those who criticize Modi or his policies.īut such allegations appear to have backfired, further angering the farmers, many of whose family members serve in the Indian army, police and civil service. Under Modi, India has seen a rising tide of Hindu nationalism that has rankled minority groups, mostly Muslims. Some leaders in Modi’s party called them “Khalistanis,” a reference to a movement for an independent Sikh homeland called “Khalistan” in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Modi’s government also initially tried to discredit the Sikh farmers by dismissing their concerns as motivated by religious nationalism. The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months - but that has not satisfied farmers who want a full repeal. The government argues that this is designed to give farmers more choice in who to sell their produce to. They worry this will leave them at the mercy of corporations that will have no legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price anymore. While the government has said it is willing to pledge the guaranteed prices will continue, the farmers are skeptical and want new legislation that says such prices are their legal right.įarmers also fear that the legislation signals the government is moving away from a system in which an overwhelming majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned marketplaces. The new legislation is not clear on whether the government will continue to guarantee prices for certain essential crops - a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help India shore up its food reserves and prevent shortages. At the heart of these protests are Indian farmers’ fears that the government’s moves to introduce market reforms to the farming sector will leave them poorer - at a time when they are already frustrated over their declining clout as the government aims to turn India into a hub for global corporations.
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