what's happening to the indian farmers?
what’s happening in india ?
on 27th september 2020 the parliament of india passed three agricultural bills known as the ‘indian farm reforms of 2020’. these ‘indian farm reforms of 2020’ collectively seek to ‘provide with multiple marketing channels and provide a legal framework for farmers to enter to pre-arranged contracts among other things’. now I hear you what that fuck does that mean?
it essentially means that these controversial reforms will slacken rules around the pricing, storage and sales of farm produce – for decades, these rules have always protected Indian farmers from an unbound free market and now farmer’s livelihoods are at risk. another large change is that reforms allow private buyers to stockpile indispensable supplies for future sales, which is something that only government authorised agents were able to do; these private buyers choose the rules and outline specific details for the production to suit a specific buyer’s demand. Farmers also have to sell their produce at market price directly to private consumers – most indian Farmers currently sell the majority of their produce at government-controlled wholesale markets.
these changes may not seem like such a big deal – however they make a huge difference and impact the farmers so much. these bills insinuate that Farmers will earn considerably less, thus greatly impacting the standard of living for farmers (economic students know what I’m talking about). through these bills, Farmers’ lives will be profoundly affected and will hinder them from earning enough to support themselves and their families. the gap between Farmers and their ability to survive is already so big; and with these new bills being implementing the gap will be further deepened and farmers will find it almost impossible for farmers to make a living for themselves.
this is an absolute outrage! Farmers are the backbone of india’s economy. the agricultural sector and farming industry provide and help over 1.5 billion people. the Farmers of Punjab, a large state in the north of india, have grown over 50% of the 13 million tonnes of wheat produced to feed india during lockdown – they have passed the food distribution at a national level despite being geographically only 1.5% of india. and without these Farmers, there are no accessible resources to families, workers and small villages – as most the produce will end up going to private businessmen or industrialised private sectors.
these Farmers, and many more people against the notion, organised large protests (in fact these Farmer protests are said to be one of the largest organized protests in human history, with over 250 million protesters fighting for their rights in India) to demonstrate their dismay and anger to the government, that has indisputably failed them.
keeping in mind that these were peaceful, and i repeat peaceful, protests what did the government do? they treated the Farmers with severe brutality.
from tear gas, to water cannons to roadblocks and other forms of intense brutality by the Indian police. the government are even going to such extreme length that they are ripping apart highways and digging massive trenches to stop their march – which is insane! Farmers are simply trying to make ends meet and just show their disapproval of the government’s actions and in return the government are trying to silence the voices of the people they are meant to be protecting.
this quote in a bbc article perfectly sums up the feeling on many farmers:
"We will lose our lands, we will lose our income if you let big business decide prices and buy crops," Gurnam Singh Charuni, one of the main leaders of the agitation, told the BBC recently. – BBC ARTICLE
we need to show our support and help out these Farmers – there are so many petitions to sign and charities to donate to – every action counts so even spreading the word about the situation will bring immense change.
