Reason Behind Their Protest :
Farmers have re-energized their protests against government, calling for a statewide strike on the one-year anniversary of the bill’s passing. The long-running protests have posed one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s toughest electoral hurdles since sweeping the polls for the second time in 2019.
Farmer’s protest against government plans to change India’s agriculture. The protestors want Mr. Modi to reverse recent farming rules that will reduce the government’s involvement in agriculture and give private investors greater room. The government claims that the new legislation would free farmers and private investment, resulting in increased growth. Farmers, on the other hand, are wary, fearful that removing governmental safeguards that they currently believe are insufficient will leave them vulnerable to greedy businesses.
India was able to overcome its food problem in the 1960s because of government support for farmers, which included guaranteed minimum prices for some important commodities. However, as India’s economy has liberalised in recent decades, Mr. Modi — who wants the country’s economy to almost quadruple by 2024 — believes that such a huge government involvement is no longer viable.
Farmers, on the other hand, claim that even with the current safeguards, they are struggling. They claim that market-friendly legislation would gradually abolish regulatory support, leaving them destitute, with little hope of an alternative living in the weaker economy.
Protesters Who Are Invovled ?
Many of the farmers who are protesting against government are members of the Sikh religious minority who hail from Punjab and Haryana. Farmers from throughout the country have staged solidarity rallies.Thousands of farmers have been camping outside New Delhi’s capital since November, maintaining watch in enormous tent towns and threatening to enter if the agricultural regulations are not overturned.
The demonstration has brought to light the stark realities of inequality in most of the country.
Despite accounting for only around 15% of the country’s economic production, agriculture continues to be the primary source of income for more than 60% of India’s 1.3 billion inhabitants. Their dependency has only grown since the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on the urban economy, forcing millions of workers to return to their communities. Debts and bankruptcies have been leading farmers to suicidal behaviour for years.
What They Did ?
Thousands of Indian farmers stopped key highways and railway tracks outside the country’s capital, marking a year of protests against government-backed measures they believed would destroy their livelihoods.Hundreds of farmers gathered at one of the protest locations on the outskirts of New Delhi, waving colorful flags and handing out free food.
Manjit Singh, a 45-year-old farmer, and demonstrator stated, “The enthusiasm we felt on the first day is greater and bigger now.”A 61-year-old New Delhi resident named Mohini Kaur visited the protest location to offer her solidarity for the farmers.”Under the scorching heat, these lion-hearted farmers are present. They’ve been in the rain, the heat, and the cold “she stated
Protesters showed their commitment to keeping the action going by bringing mattresses and camping out as the day progressed.
Farmers protesting against government clogged highways on New Delhi’s southwest and eastern outskirts, choking traffic and cutting off access to neighboring states. To ensure peace and order, police were dispatched to three major protest locations on the city’s outskirts.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers’ Front, is a coalition of farmers’ unions that has called on shops, offices, factories, and other institutions to close their doors in support of the 10-hour strike. The demands for a strike, on the other hand, appeared to go largely unheeded, with most companies in the capital continuing to operate as normal.
The administration has supported the legislation, claiming that it is vital to modernizing agriculture and that the regulations would increase productivity by attracting private capital. Farmers, on the other hand, claim that the new legislation would destroy their profits by abolishing guaranteed pricing and forcing them to sell their products to companies at lower prices.Thousands of protestors also stopped roads in neighboring Punjab and Haryana states, which are the country’s two largest agricultural producers, bringing traffic to a halt in some parts.
Trains were suspended in Bihar’s eastern state when farmers sat on railway rails. Protesters also flocked to the streets, shouting anti-Modi chants, burning tires, and blocking highways around the region. 500 demonstrators were detained by police, but the shutdown remained peaceful, according to police.
Hundreds of people marched in Bengaluru, India’s southernmost city, on Monday in support of the anti-government protests. According to local media, Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front has called for a complete shutdown.
Farmers have been backed by India’s opposition parties, especially the Congress Party. Senior Congressman Rahul Gandhi termed the administration “exploitative” and stated that he sided with farmers.Several meetings between the government and farmers have failed to find a solution to the problem.
The farmers intensified their protest by camping out on the outskirts of New Delhi for nearly a year, surviving a hard winter as well as a coronavirus outbreak that ravaged India earlier this year.While the farmers’ protests have mainly been nonviolent, protestors stormed the famous Red Fort in the capital’s heart in January, breaking over police barricades. One demonstrator was killed and hundreds were injured in clashes with police.