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India Protests - 2020 - Farmers

The farmers crisis was sparked in September 2020, when the government crammed complex legislative changes into three new laws and pushed them through parliament during an opposition walkout. The new laws make farmers sell their produce on the open market – including agribusiness corporations and supermarket chains – instead of through state-run institutions that guarantee a minimum price. The protests remained largely confined to the Sikhs in Punjab (not a natural BJP constituency) and the dominant peasant Jat castes of Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. It is unlikely, or at the very least unclear, that the protests will precipitate a significant withdrawal of support from the BJP in rural areas.

In what was called the largest protest in human history, a reported 250 million Indians - almost the size of the entire US population - were said to have taken to the streets across India. On 26 October 2020, workers across the country, in power, in transport, in a number of public sector organizations, and across the banks, the insurance companies, and from other set of departments ceased were protesting against a new set of labor codes that were rammed through Parliament. But they also endorsed the demands of the farmers. In September 2020 BJP rammed through four labor laws codifying 29 existing complex legislations. But the idea of 250 million in the street was completely baseless. The 250 million was the number of members belonging to major trade unions that had called for a nationwide strike. Which meant they stayed home. It's still a large protest, of course, but 250 million people protesting outside in India is a fantasy.

Farmers in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana began protesting in October 2020 against agriculture deregulation and otheriberal policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist government. Despite being attacked by police and security forces with water cannons, chemical agents, batons, and other weapons, the peaceful farmer-led demonstrators on 03 December 2020 vowed to continue their protests after talks in the capital New Delhi with the central government—which is refusing to bow to the protesters' demands—broke down.

With nearly 60 percent of the Indian population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, a growing farmer rebellion rattled Modi’s administration and allies.

A set of three laws passed in September 2020 aimed to deregulate India’s enormous agriculture sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said they will “liberate” farmers from the tyranny of middlemen. But many farmers feared that they stand to lose more than they could gain from the new regulations and that the main beneficiaries will be agricultural corporations with gargantuan financial firepower. The new laws make it easier for farmers to bypass government-regulated markets (known locally as mandis) and sell produce directly to private buyers. Farmers can now enter into contracts with private companies, a practice known in India as contract farming, and sell across state borders. The new regulations also allow traders to stockpile food. This is a shift away from prohibitions against hoarding, which could make it easier for traders to take advantage of rising prices, such as during a pandemic. Such practices were criminal offences under the old rules.

As a result, the farmers have taken to the streets in the biggest such protests in years. The demonstrations ramped up at the end of Novmeber 2020 when several thousand protesters from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana set out to converge on the capital, New Delhi. Police blocked them at the city’s borders, denying them permission to gather in a place of their choice.

Farmers have some genuine concerns. The new rules remove many of their safeguards. More than 86 percent of India’s cultivated farmland is controlled by smallholder farmers who own less than two hectares (five acres) of land each. They fear that they just do not have enough bargaining power to get the kinds of prices they need for a decent standard of living when they negotiate to sell their produce to larger companies. Farmers have seen the costs of things like fertilisers and seeds shoot up over the years as those farming inputs are predominantly sold by the private sector.

For certain crops such as rice and wheat, producers have been able to rely on the so-called minimum support price (MSP), the assured price the government pays for these crops. Farmers say they fear they may lose key protections in the recently passed legislation [File: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]But the new rules do not guarantee any minimum price for any product, and farmers worry that the existing MSP will be abolished at some point.

The Indian government and protesting farmers were unable to break their deadlock in talks, with the farmers saying on 05 December 2020 they will intensify their demonstrations against new agriculture laws and continue blocking key highways on the outskirts of the capital. Protest leaders rejected the government’s offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pricing, and stuck to the demand for total repeal.

On 12 January 2021 India’s Supreme Court paused the implementation of three new farm laws being fiercely opposed by farmers, who have been holding a large protest on the outskirts of the Indian capital for more than a month. The court will form a committee to hear farmers’ grievances against the laws, Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde said during a hearing. “We are staying three farm laws until further orders,” Bobde said. “We have the power to make a committee and the committee can give us the report,” he said, ordering the stay for an undisclosed period on the laws passed in September. “We will protect farmers.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has ruled out repealing the laws despite widespread protests from farmers and other workers’ groups across the country.

The main act in India on 26 January 2021 was supposed to be the Republic Day parade marking the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on January 26, 1950. Farmers protesting against new market-friendly agrarian laws on Tuesday stormed India’s historic Red Fort, posing a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and potentially threatening the unity of one of India's longest protest movements. Tens of thousands of farmers protesting against new market-friendly farm laws broke through police barricades to reach the historic, Mughal-era Red Fort in the heart of the Indian capital in the afternoon, after the official parade had ended. On the ramparts of the 17th century red sand stone fort, where the Mughals, colonial British and independent Indian administrations have raised their flags, some of the protesters hoisted a myriad mix of farm union and religious community banners.

One of India’s longest-running farmer protest movements reached an alarming peak on Republic Day, exposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's failure to comprehend the level of opposition to the controversial new agricultural laws and to address the issues that have united powerful, and often competing, voting blocs against his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The protest had a human cost. Camping outdoors in the North Indian winter, through chilly rain has claimed more than 160 lives, according to an independent researcher. Indian media attributed the deaths to the weather, illness or suicide.

Delhi Police said 27 January 2021 that violence erupted during the Tractor Rally yesterday as the protesting farmers did not follow the laid down terms and conditions accepted earlier by them during the meetings. Addressing the media, Commissioner of Police S N Srivastava said, the Police excercised maximum restraint during the tractor rally despite the violent behavior by the protestors. He said, more than 25 criminal cases have been registered in connection with yesterday's violence. He said, 394 Delhi police personnel were injured and some of them are in ICUs at hospitals. Mr Srivastava said that 30 police vehicles were also damaged by the protestors along with other public properties. He also informed that 19 accused persons have been arrested while 50 others have been detained in connection with the incident. He said, those responsible for the violence will not be spared. Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel today visited the Red Fort in the national capital and took stock of the situation and assessed the damage caused in the violence during the Tractor rally.