INDIA’S MODI AGREES TO REPEAL FARM LAWS
In a major reversal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Friday that he would repeal the controversial agriculture laws that sparked yearlong protests from tens of thousands of farmers and posed a significant challenge to his administration.
Farmers, who form one of India’s most influential voting blocs, have camped out on the outskirts of the capital since November of last year to demand the withdrawal of the laws, which they feared would dramatically reduce their incomes.
Modi’s surprise decision, in a televised national address, came ahead of elections early next year in key states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab that are significant agricultural producers and where his Bharatiya Janata Party is eager to shore up its support. Experts said it was too early to say if it would work.
The prime minister urged the protesters to return home, but the farmers have said they will stay put until the laws are gone — a process that will begin in December when Parliament sits for its winter session.
“While apologizing to the nation, I want to say with a sincere and pure heart that maybe something was lacking in our efforts that we could not explain the truth to some of our farmer brothers,” Modi said during the address. He added: “Let us make a fresh start.”
The move represented a rare climbdown for the 71year-old leader, who has stood firm in the face of fierce criticism over other steps his government took, such as abruptly banning high-denomination currency notes and revoking Muslim majority Kashmir’s semiautonomous powers.
Economists widely agree that India’s agricultural sector needs an overhaul. Its farms grow some crops in such excesses that they rot in silos or get exported, while people suffer from malnutrition elsewhere in India.
Modi’s government had argued that the new laws would bring private investment into a sector that more than 60 percent of the population still depends on for their livelihood. But the farmers, already struggling under heavy debt loads and bankruptcies, feared that reduced government regulations would leave them at the mercy of corporate giants. Their suspicions grew after the BJP passed the laws quickly last year.
While the government said it was willing to pledge the guaranteed prices would continue, the farmers wanted legislation saying such prices were their legal right. They contended that without guarantees, they would be at the mercy of the markets and that would spell disaster, especially for the more than two-thirds of them who own less than 1 hectare (2 acres) of land.