There have been a recent set of laws passed, ones which the government hopes would liberate farmers from the middlemen in agricultural exchanges, however many believe that this was not the right move. Many farmers fear that they stand to lose more than they could gain from the new regulations and that the main beneficiaries will be agricultural corporations. As a result, they have taken to the streets to march on one of the biggest protests seen in years. The demonstrations ramped up last week when several thousand protesters from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana set out to the capital, New Delhi. Police blocked them at the city’s borders, denying them permission to gather in a place of their choice.
These new laws make it so that farmers can sell their goods directly to private investors instead of taking it through governmental laws. They are now able to practice contract farming and stockpiling of goods. While this may seem like it does no harm, that is not true. These new laws removes all the safeguards set in place to aid the farmers. Most of the land is owned by small farmers and landowners. 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.
For now, the government has dismissed the farmers fears, but as crowds grow larger and protests start to leave an impact, the government will have to make a move and fix this.
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