A progressive protest march of farmers demanding better prices for their crops was bombarded with tear gas by the Delhi Police in India. The protestants were demanding that the government honor the promise that was made in 2021.
Previously, in 2021, farmers called off a yearlong protest after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he would abolish three controversial farm laws in an attempt to end the longest-running farmers’ protest.
The legislation was such that it deregulated the sector by allowing farmers to sell produce to buyers beyond government-regulated wholesale markets, where growers are assured of a minimum price (MSP). However, this was a challenge to small farmers as it made them vulnerable to competition from big business.
Despite repealing the laws in parliament, the farmers’ demand for higher crop rates hasn’t yet been fulfilled.
“The government has not been able to make a strong decision on anything… We thought that giving time is not suitable now,” Sarwan Singh Pandher, the general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), a farmers union, told ANI news agency.
Interestingly, the protest has been staged ahead of the national elections in which Modi will seek a third term, with farmers forming an influential voting bloc.
ndia’s main opposition Congress party said the government had failed the farmers. “As a result of inadequate market prices and simultaneous price increase of inputs, farmers are falling deeper into debt,” Congress lawmaker Jairam Ramesh said in a social media post.
Ramesh stated that despite the government announcing minimum prices for more than 20 crops each year, state agencies buy only rice and wheat at these prices, which benefits only about 6% of farmers.
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