Indian farmers block roads in nationwide shutdown
Uproar over govt move to open agriculture to corporate sector
Farmers across India have blocked roads and railways in a nationwide shutdown to protest new farm bills, which they say will leave them at the mercy of market forces.
Hundreds of farmer organizations across India supported by opposition parties are protesting new legislation that was passed on Tuesday despite resistance from all opposition parties. The protest is concentrated in the country's north, the “food bowl of India,” where farm yields are high. “Farmers, who are already in a precarious situation, face new uncertainty with the bills, which leave us at the whims and fancies of market forces,” Sunil Pradhan of the Indian Farmers Union in the northern Uttar Pradesh state told Arab News.
He is protesting, along hundreds of others, in Noida city.
“How can we trust the words of the government that the market will be good for us? We have seen its past schemes, which sound good on paper but which actually turn out to be hollow,” Pradhan said.
The opposition wanted the new bills to be subject to vote, but the government did not allow it.
“The haste with which the government passed the bills without going in for voting on such crucial matters raises questions about the intent of the government,” Satish Mishra, a political analyst from the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News.
The new legislation exposes the agriculture sector to market forces. It has a provision to allow farmers to sell their produce directly to private players and allow corporate investment in farms. Until now, produce prices have been fixed by the government under the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is usually higher than market rates. Farmers fear that once the free market assumes a bigger role in the agriculture sector, the government would withdraw from the MSP.
The largest protests have been held in the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, with farmers blocking roads and railway tracks. “If we don't protest, our survival will be at stake. The government cannot withdraw its hands from the procurement, and we cannot be left at the whims of the market forces,” Balbir Singh Rajewal, the Punjabbased leader of the Indian Farmers Union, told Arab News.
Jagdish Awana, a Haryana-based farmer, raised questions why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not consult the main stakeholders while introducing the reform. “Modi has been in power for the last six years. He never discussed these reforms with farmers. Suddenly, during the pandemic, when people are struggling for their livelihood, he brings in such a farreaching change that will disturb everything that has been built for decades,” Awana said.
In response to the protests, Modi said on Friday that some actors are deliberately confusing the farmers and telling them lies about the bill.
The haste with which the government passed the bills without going in for voting on such crucial matters raises questions about the intent of the government.
Satish Mishra
Political analyst