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News > World

Indian Farmers Block Roads and Railways in Nationwide Protest

  • Indian farmers blocking a railroad, India, Sept. 27, 2021.

    Indian farmers blocking a railroad, India, Sept. 27, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @Redfishstream

Published 27 September 2021
Opinion

The laws leading to this unrest force farmers to sell their products without any public protection or minimum price guarantee.

On Monday, thousands of Indian farmers blocked railway tracks and major highways leading to New Delhi to renew their push against the corporate-friendly "modernization" laws whereby Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration liberalized the agricultural sector in 2020.

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To this end, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of over 40 agricultural unions, announced a nationwide strike. Farmers are demanding the annulment of the agricultural regulations, claiming that they paved the way for dismantling the public price support system.

Day laborers, workers' unions, and political party activists also joined the protest. Police diverted traffic in several places, although emergency medical services were exempted from the blockade and could circulate freely.

This demonstration is part of a trade union struggle against free-market measures and has been going on for ten months already.

The protesters, who are mainly from the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, are carrying out one of the longest-running demonstrations in recent Indian history. They are ready to fight for years, if necessary, to prevent the full implementation of the Nodi's policies.

As a matter of fact, the laws that led to this social unrest aim to deregulate the agricultural sector, forcing farmers to sell their products on the market without any state protection or minimum price guarantee.

Since last year, agricultural product prices have been at the mercy of big corporations.This meant that Indian farmers are now extremely vulnerable, especially due to a lack of price support for essential goods such as rice and wheat.

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