We Stand With The Farmers
On September 17th of 2020, Prime Minister Modi’s government passed three agriculture bills that raised an immense amount of chaos all over India, initiating large protests on New Delhi’s borders that have been non-stop since September 2020.
Before diving into the bills, let’s touch on the status quo. The current situation for farmers is that they sell their produce to market yards called mandis and get money regardless of the quality of their produce which means that they get a regular source of income. Now, let’s touch base on the new farm bills that will be drastically changing the status quo.
- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Bill is (according to the government) allegedly giving farmers more leeway to sell their produce to a buyer. The government claims that this will bring more freedom to farmers as well as raise their income. However, the farmers’ main concern is that this will get rid of the minimum support price and private companies can manipulate this bill to fulfill their desires which will hurt the farmers, defeating the whole objective of the bill itself.
- The Farmers’ Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill is allowing farmers to make a contract with private sellers such as agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers at an agreed price. However, farmers believe that this is only benefitting large corporations that want to take over the agriculture industry (cough Ambani cough) and will weaken the negotiating power of farmers because of the loopholes in the bill. One of the loopholes is that the clause contains “subject to quality” which gives the upper hand to the buyers who are mainly corporations. Another loophole is that the sellers do not have real judicial remedies.
- Finally, The Essential Commodities Amendment Bill will eradicate commodities such as cereals, pulses, onion, potatoes, etc from the essential commodities list. The main concern of this bill is that once again, private companies will make the farmers run in circles and will receive no benefit.
India’s government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have gotten extreme backlash from hundreds of thousands of farmers from primarily Punjab and Haryana but other states as well, such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, etc. Not only does this ambiguous bill lack the ability to assure a regular flow of income for farmers, but it will also increase its price to the general public, making it more expensive for the impoverished population of India.
Farmers are angry for two main reasons:
- The government assures that the minimum price support and mandis will remain, however, farmers are skeptical of their claim because it’s not written down anywhere in the law. Their words mean nothing if it is not put down in the bill which means that there isn’t a guaranteed minimum price support and selling their produce will be harder than ever.
2) Buyers can be easily manipulative and exploit farmers
Let’s set a scenario: There is one seller (you) and 5 farmers are coming to you. The price that you are offering is higher compared to the other farmers which means that the buyer will simply tell you that the quality of your produce is bad and will not be bought. Then, the buyer will go to the cheaper offer and buy it which will prompt you to lower your price in order for it to be sold because you need to put food on your table.
Bottom line: farmers don’t trust buyers because these large corporates play for only their personal favor which means that these farmers can easily be thrown under the bus. It’s really the ambiguity of the bills that’s ticking off the farmers.
Moving onto the protests, many Indians have been leaving their homes, whether that be in West Bengal or Punjab, to travel to the borders of New Delhi and join the group of protestors regardless of age. Many of these protesters are sleeping on the curbside under extremely cold conditions just so that they can wake up the next day to continue to protest. Unfortunately, instead of protesting, many farmers have committed suicide as they know that India’s government is known to be inherently corrupt which is why revoking these bills is a “far-fetched” goal.
Obviously, the large-scale protest and multiple suicides of farmers have provoked the leaders of the Supreme Court to “address the farmers’ concerns, but all they did was run in circles with the opposition party on anti-farm bills and got nowhere.
The Indian government’s corruption emerges once again through police brutality among the protests as the officers are most likely prompted by the government to act cruelly against them.
They are using lathis (pipes or bamboo sticks) that are allegedly being used to “maintain law and order”, but multiple cases tell us otherwise; these officers are using lathis to hit protestors, causing extreme damage (as far as cracking a skull). One particular story is about Nodeep Kaur, an activist, who “was arrested by the Sonipat Police on January 12 on charges of attempt to murder, rioting, and assault to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty under the Indian Penal Code, among others”, according to TheHindu. She has been tortured and sexually-assaulted under police custody, everything which the police denies.
Ms.Kaur’s sister claims that her private parts were injured, and yet this atrocity has been waved away, causing a wave of global anger. What could be the reason for this extreme and excessive torture? Firstmost, the caste system remains an integral part of India which clarifies Kaur’s torture as she hails from a family of untouchables. Secondly, discrimination comes in the form of misogyny, but also comes from poverty, both of which Nodeep Kaur has faced. Thirdly and most obviously, she is a labor rights activist standing up for the farmers. She is currently still under police custody in Haryana and has been granted bail for two out of three criminal cases against her. Murder and extortion are serious offenses, however, she’s been wrongly framed which is why there’s global rage. We can only hope that her legal team comes to rescue her and can release her from the clutches of the police.
Another situation where police brutality is embodied is in the case of Dr. Swaiman Singh, a cardiologist from the U.S.A, and his fellow associates who were brutally beaten by the police officers after attempting to help the injured protestors. Despite the bystanders clarifying that they were doctors, the officers continued to beat them up, leaving them severely injured with three doctors each having a broken arm and one with a cracked skull. Not surprisingly, none of this is being accounted for by India’s government, once again showing their ruthlessness as they give little to no care towards the inherent police brutality.
However, this isn’t the only time where the police are abusing their power; amidst the coronavirus lockdown in India, a man was beaten to death by the police because he had violated the curfew. While police brutality is an issue that should be separately addressed, it is currently playing a huge role in the farmers’ protest as many are being chased or beaten away by the officers’ abuse of power. This issue, which is being severely being waved away by the government, yet brings one of the most important inherent flaws in the Indian government: ignorance.
Protests, multiple suicides, increased police brutality are all the side effects of the farmers’ bills, and yet nothing is being discussed in international media. The media rather talk about the woman who fell in the grand canyon taking a selfie rather than the impoverished farmers in India that are withering away one by one.
An example of the media failing to show this important issue was Rihanna herself where she tweeted about the ignorance towards the farmers’ protests three whole months after it had started which means that the media failed to fulfill its job to inform people of current important issues. Rihanna’s tweet alone provoked so much awareness (that died in a week) yet an immense amount of controversy especially among Bollywood stars such as Kangana Ranaut, a controversial Bollywood actress, who claimed that Rihanna should not be talking about a country that she does not reside in and continued to call her disgraceful terms.
Other Bollywood stars also wrote tweets in favor of India’s Supreme Court which made many people angry as these new bills are taking the food off the tables of many farmers. However, it has been speculated that they have been threatened to write these tweets or a case would be framed against them; this doesn’t surprise me if it’s true because again, the Indian government is very corrupt. Sidenote: the tweet exchange between Kangana Ranaut and Diljit Dosanjh is something that I recommend everyone to read if they want to have a good laugh.
Finally, the question that farmers, protestors, basically everyone have been asking: Will these bills be revoked? There’s no definite answer to this, however, it seems like the protests won’t end anytime soon because they have been going on for three months straight. Since there’s international pressure that’s being thrust upon the Indian government, they will most likely feel pressured and be more prone to revoke these bills if they want peace (they rather take money over peace). This is no longer a domestic issue; it’s an international one that has involved several public figures such as Greta Thunberg (there’s an FBI case lodged against her because of a google document!).
How can we help? Posting about it on your social media isn’t enough folks, you need to fill out credible petitions, donate, and raise awareness on your social media platforms! This is a question of humanity; these bills are taking away the farmers’ bread and butter (over 100 million farmers!) and only the revocation of these bills can bring the chaos to a simmer.
