They can help us increase the rate of crops,” he said. “They can support us with electricity, with providing fertilizers, with other equipment used in agriculture. Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of farmers’ body Bhartiya Kisan Union, urged the government to talk to farmers to find a solution - which he suggested was more government support. The time for celebrating was over - despite their smaller numbers, tens of thousands still turned out with clear demands. This is a do or die situation.”ĭelhi police erected blockades to limit access to the three protest sites Friday, but turnout was lower than at the peak of the protests.
“Farmers know this may be their last chance to secure a stable future for themselves. “This demonstration culminates from compounded anger,” said Sharma. In 2019, more than 10,000 people in the agricultural sector ended their own lives, according to government data. The abject poverty and debt faced by many of India’s farmers has forced some to take extreme measures.
“They sacrificed their income for the sake of consumers, and it’s the small farmers who have been exploited the most.” “When farmers plant their seeds to grow crops, they are already making a loss,” he said. The country is the world’s second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, groundnuts, fruits and vegetables.īut farming households only made an average income of 10,218 rupees ($137) per month in 2018-19, according to government statistics - 316 rupees less than the nation’s average salary that year.Įconomist Devinder Sharma said most farmers don’t till enough land to yield a profit, leading to debilitating debts. However, farmers said market forces could push prices even lower, and smaller farmers could find it hard to negotiate favorable deals with corporate giants.Īgriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s 1.3 billion citizens, according to a report from the India Brand Equity Foundation.
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The farming laws aimed to loosen the rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce that protected farmers from an unfettered free market for decades. Previously, farmers had to sell their goods at auction, where they received at least the government agreed minimum support price (MSP) for some of their crops. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had insisted the reforms would fix a system plagued with problems. Since last November, he and tens of thousands of others have lived rough through a harsh winter, scorching summer, and a global pandemic. On the contrary, union leaders say farmers will continue protesting until the government meets several other demands, including raising the minimum price of their produce, withdrawing legal action against some farmers, and paying compensation to the families of hundreds of farmers who have died as a result of the civil action.įor 12 months, Singh has slept on a wooden cot draped with blankets inside one of hundreds of shacks that crowd Singhu, the main protest site. “I urge all my agitating farmer companions… return to your homes, fields and to your families.
On November 19, the Prime Minister said he would formally repeal the legislation because the government had failed to convince farmers of its importance. On Friday, numbers at all three protest sites swelled as farmers gathered to mark one year of the civil action that last week pushed Modi into a rare policy reversal.
“When I first came here, I thought I’d be here for 15, maybe 20 days, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made one whole year go by,” said Singh, as he sipped his morning tea, surrounded by young protesters, at a campsite in Singhu on Delhi’s outskirts.