Why are farmers protesting in India?
What you need to know about potentially the single largest protest in human history, and long plight of India's farming population that led to this point.
Hey there, and welcome to the eleventh issue of The Supplement, a newsletter that fills in the gaps of your other news intake. This is Alex, one-third of the Supplement team!
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This week’s issue came a day early as a holiday present from us. 🎁
This week, we’re tackling this question: Why are farmers protesting in India?
TL;DR: In September, India passed major agricultural reform bills without proper consultation. While small-scale farmers — which make up over half of the country’s workforce — do want reform, they said these changes would favour big corporations instead. They have since sparked what is potentially “the single largest protest in human history,” inspiring solidarity demonstrations worldwide to repeal the laws.
Here’s our answer:
In India, agriculture is a big deal, employing over half the country’s workforce and 80 per cent of female workers. But the sector, which is made up of mostly small-scale farmers, has long been struggling — and over the past few years, it shrunk to account for between 15 and 20 per cent of India’s GDP. The country is also grappling with a crisis of farmer suicides.
Some of the troubles can be traced back to the 1960s Green Revolution, which saw the industrialization of farming. So, as Flare reporter Katherine Singh noted in her explainer on the topic, farmers do want reforms.
But they don’t want the reforms passed in September by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing government, which is why they are starting a major protest movement. This backlash is due to a number of reasons.
Firstly, the government said the reforms would modernize farming and boost farmer’s income by liberalizing the market and supply chain. For instance, the laws allow farmers to bypass government-controlled markets and sell to private corporations and individuals directly. But small-scale farmers often don’t have the leverage to effectively negotiate with corporations, so they say these reforms would favour bigger producers instead. They also worry that the changes would eliminate a system that offers minimum set prices for staple crops and further depress their income.
Secondly, farmers said they were not adequately consulted on the changes. The laws were also rushed, leaving little room for debate and scrutiny. This problem isn’t new under Modi’s government, which has pushed through numerous divisive laws.
Since then, farmers have been protesting for a repeal. The charge is led by those from the northern breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana — many of whom are Sikh because of the faith’s root in Punjab.
“This land is at the heart of Punjab's culture, and without it, Punjab's traditions are imperilled. There is no "market price" that any corporation could ever offer to adequately square the demise of these or any other family farming traditions,” Raji Aujla and Jagdeesh Mann, two Punjabi Canadians, said in a CBC opinion piece.
In late November, tens of thousands of people travelled to India’s capital city and blocked a major highway to protest the laws, pushing back against police’s use of tear gas and water cannons. Up to 250 million people in the country held a 24-hour solidarity general strike, marking what might be “the single largest protest in human history,” according to Slate.
In Canada, solidarity rallies have been held across the country. Federal political leaders have also expressed support for farmers’ protests, including a remark made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that India criticized as “an unacceptable interference in [its] internal affairs.”
The fight has also been taken online. People have been protesting Facebook, alleging that the company is censoring content supporting farmers and the Sikh community. Facebook has denied the allegations.
The movement continues on — global protests are planned for December 26. Farmers have so far repeatedly rejected efforts by the government to reach a compromise in favour of a full repeal.
Here’s someone to follow:
As COVID-19 disproportionately impacts frontline workers, the pandemic is putting issues around labour into sharper focus. To keep up with the beat, follow Toronto Star’s Work and Wealth reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh — and check out her recent Tedx Talk about the importance of remembering the humans behind the invisible labour around us.
Here’s a story to check out:
You like seafood? Me too. Now, what if it was raised on land? It’s possible, I swear — check out this piece on land-based salmon farming by Narwhal reporter Sarah Cox. This fascinating story is the first in an upcoming three-part series.
And if you’re looking for more longreads to dig into over the holidays, Great Canadian Longform has curated 10 stories for its best of 2020 list.
