Title: India Farmer Protests: What to Know | Time
Headings: India's Farmers Are Leading One of the Largest Protests Yet Against Modi's Government. Here's What They're Fighting For
India's Farmers Are Leading One of the Largest Protests Yet Against Modi's Government. Here's What They're Fighting For
What have the protests been like?
What are the Indian government’s reforms?
Why have farmers been resistant to the reforms?
How widespread are the protests, and what is likely to happen next?
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Content: “There’s no doubt that agriculture and markets need a lot of very serious public investment and reform,” says Mekhala Krishnamurthy, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi think tank. “ We have a situation where Indian agriculture is the site of enormous livelihoods and economic opportunity, but it has also been riddled with huge challenges and a lot of economic distress.” Why have farmers been resistant to the reforms? While the government says the new laws will “empower farmers,” farmers’ unions say that the rule changes are not policies they have asked for. Instead, they fear that instead of trying to help farmers, the government is opening the door to big corporations who may eventually force them off their land and out of business. “For many years, a certain agri-business lobby, backed by some of the biggest corporations in the county, has been wanting to enter agriculture,” says Yadav, of Swaraj India. “ Similar proposals were put to previous governments as well, but no government had the political courage to do it because they knew it would be very unpopular with the farmers. 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.” What farmers really want, says Yadav, is the government to actually guarantee that its minimum prices for farm produce are accessible to all farmers.