Indian police used drones to drop tear gas on a group of angry farmers marching in New Delhi on Tuesday. Police also barricaded major roads leading into the capital to prevent protests and banned gatherings of more than five people.
Indian farmers have staged large-scale productions before. protests In 2020 and 2021, he was furious over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agricultural reforms. The reforms were supposed to modernize the agricultural industry and remove some inefficient price supports, but already impoverished farmers will not be able to survive under Modi’s three laws. He argued that it would be impossible.
Prime Minister Modi personally implored farmers to disband protest camps set up around New Delhi and return home, but farmers have been on the ground for more than a year, enduring tough seasons and the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. I stayed. Prime Minister Modi eventually caved in and repealed the three controversial laws.
Security officials push back people shouting slogans during a protest held to show support for farmers who have been protesting for months in New Delhi, India, February 3, 2021. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Fresh protests have once again brought tens of thousands of angry farmers to New Delhi, many on tractors and trucks.farmer To tell Prime Minister Modi has reneged on some of the promises he made to end the 2021 protests, including doubling farmers’ income and guaranteeing minimum crop prices.
Farmers are demanding a pension system for farmers over 60 years old and special conditions for agricultural loans. They want India to withdraw from free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as they see them as distorting the prices of Indian agricultural products. I’m here.
The most important thing is what farmers want. expanded Minimum Support Price (MSP) system — A guaranteed minimum price paid by the government to purchase crops, high enough to compensate farmers for implied costs, risks, and setbacks such as market fluctuations and adverse weather conditions. will be set.
Critics of the MSP policy say it has made Indian agriculture inefficient and hidden, with little incentive to develop better technology or find innovative solutions to problems. claims. Moreover, since some of India’s most serious agricultural problems, such as declining water tables in some major agricultural regions, are structural and predictable, skeptics argue that MSP is simply inefficient and highly They argue that it will simply become an expensive welfare program.
Indian government official Said of indian era (Toi) said on Wednesday that the minimum prices demanded by farm protesters would be a “fiscal disaster” that could eat up most of the state budget and leave little for other socio-economic programs. Government-subsidized electricity for equipment, another major demand for farmers, is also incredibly expensive, potentially leading farmers to use large amounts of “free” energy to power questionable agricultural projects. There is sex.
On February 14, 2024, police fired tear gas at protesting farmers near the Shambhu border that separates the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, about 200 kilometers from New Delhi, India. farmers responded. (AP Photo/Rajesh Satchar)
Police are determined to prevent tent cities from re-emerging around New Delhi built Metal and concrete barrier across the highway. On Tuesday, police was dispatched About 245 miles from New Delhi, a drone carrying tear gas canisters separated a line of protesters trying to break through a barrier.
Farm union leaders said marches would continue and farmers were prepared to camp around the capital for months until the 12-point agenda was met. The state of Haryana, which lies between the farmers and their destination of New Delhi, has begun reinforcing the roads with razor wire and nails.
wednesday bbc Quote Demonstrators claimed that police used tear gas as well as rubber bullets and water cannon. It also said Indian media unfairly portrayed them as “terrorists” or political operatives of India’s opposition parties. Agricultural association leaders announced that at least a dozen farmers were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday. Police said protesters threw stones, injuring several police officers.
The Indian government has implored farmers to return to the negotiating table, and farmer leaders have said they are willing to return to the table as long as negotiations take place near areas where protesters are gathering.
The new farm protests come at a sensitive time for Mr. Modi, who faces elections. It is scheduled For April and May. The opposition Congress party promised on Tuesday to meet farmers’ demands for minimum crop prices if voted to power instead of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media after arriving in Parliament on the first day of the Budget session in New Delhi, India, January 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
