Farmer Protests Ongoing since August over New Laws
Since August 2020, thousands of farmers in India and people around the world are protesting the new farming laws that can cause many farmers to go out of business. India’s government has responded with internet shutdowns and censorship, but farmers continue to object.
In September 2020, the Parliament of India passed three farm bills that enabled farmers to sell their goods to anyone for any price.
However, farmers worry that big corporations will exploit farmers and leave them in debt. These new laws do not remove the guaranteed minimum prices on farm products, but they do remove restrictions on corporations relating to land and stockpiling. Minimum support price (MSP) allows farmers to have a safety net in case crop prices drop dramatically.
Farmers demand the government to physically write into the laws that farmers will still have MSP so that large companies cannot manipulate and abuse small farmers.
The government argues that these laws empower farmers, but farmers believe that the laws actually allow big corporations to force farmers out of business.
“For many years, a certain agribusiness lobby, backed by some of the biggest corporations in the country, has been wanting to enter agriculture,” politician Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India tells Time Magazine. He adds that there are “large groups which want to enter agriculture. The problem is the laws in the country which do not allow big corporations to purchase land.”
With these new laws, corporations will be able to take control in the farming industry.
Internet access was shut down in New Delhi as well as three other areas surrounding it. Internet restrictions were implemented because of the violent clashes between protestors and the police.
In a statement late January, Darshan Pal, a leader from Samyukta Kisan Morcha, says he believes it to be “undemocratic” because “the government does not want the real facts to reach protesting farmers, nor their peaceful conduct to reach the world.” Pal adds that the government is “fearful of the coordinated work of the farmers’ union across different protest sites and is trying to cut off communication means between them.”
The government has also demanded that Twitter remove over 1,000 accounts related to the protests, New York Times journalist Karan Deep Singh reports. Singh adds that the government has “arrested activists and journalists, and pressured media organizations to hew it’s line.”
India’s Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the three laws in hopes that the farmers might “come to the negotiating table with confidence and good faith.” However, farmers have stated that they will continue to protest until the laws are fully repealed.