Compass Money: Indian Farmers "Ready to Die" to Scrap Modi’s Agricultural Laws

Most of the protesters come from the Indian state of Punjab, the country’s “breadbasket.” (Flickr)

Culminating in the biggest protest in history, 250 million Indian farmers entered a nationwide strike Tuesday, shutting down multiple highways, railroads, and wholesale food markets, including in the capital of New Delhi and the megacity Mumbai. For two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers have blocked roads and held demonstrations in protest of new agricultural deregulations, which they fear will erode their already paltry incomes.

Having set up semi-permanent camps along New Delhi’s highways, the protesters vow to remain for months. Sukhvinder Kaur, travelled 310 miles from her village in Punjab to join the protests. She and the other women she travelled with live in the semi-permanent camps, where they sleep in a truck and eat in a communal kitchen. 

“We are not ready to go back home unless these laws are scrapped,” Kaur said. “We are ready to sacrifice our lives—even ready to die.”

Passed in September, the three laws allow farmers to sell directly to private buyers at a market price instead of selling to middlemen at government-regulated markets at an assured price floor. The laws also allow farmers to enter contracts with companies and stockpile food. 

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government hopes that the deregulations will stimulate investment in the agricultural industry, his detractors believe that the government will leave farmers to the mercy of the free market. 86 percent of India’s farmers are small growers, leaving many to believe that they do not have enough bargaining power to sell their crops to larger corporations at a price high enough to sustain a decent living.  

“Essentially, deregulation puts small farmers at the mercy of big corporations by providing greater opportunity for corporations to monopolize the farming industry,” explains Rimapl Bajwa, Social Media Chair of the Georgetown Sikh Association. “No local farmers can reasonably compete with them.”

Although farmers have been able to sell their crops to government wholesale markets at a minimum support price (MSP), private buyers are not legally obligated to pay the MSP when purchasing crops. Many farmers are concerned that the MSP will ultimately be abolished. 

Bajwa points out that the recent demonstrations reflect a history of government mistreatment and neglect of India’s farmers. She explains that the Green Revolution, a series of practices started in the 1960s to increase agricultural productivity, created massive debt, introduced deadly fertilizers and pesticides, and led to numerous health defects and suicides. More than half of Indian farmers were in debt in 2018. 10,281 Indian farmers committed suicide in 2019, one of the highest rates in the world.

Now in the midst of the pandemic, suicide rates are reaching all time highs as the pandemic exacerbates financial woes. India’s gross domestic product tumbled 15.7 percent since the pandemic began. 

“These protests are not just an outcry against the recent bills that were passed, but are also a condemnation of the cyclical pattern of farmer mistreatment and abuse in India that has been swept under the rug for decades,” says Bajwa.