And by the time they do, the policy is already law. He introduces policy and ushers it through really, really quickly before there’s much chance for anyone to weigh in or even state an objection. Modi went about it, which was emblematic of the way he’s governed the last seven years. So the farmers, in theory, were open to this kind of reform, but they just really didn’t like the way that Mr. Modi wanted to shake up that system a little bit by allowing private buyers to make contracts and buy directly from farmers, which would make them less dependent on these government-controlled markets and would create more incentives for them to grow other produce and grow it according to the market demand, whether overseas or in India. So right now, many of India’s farmers sell to these public markets, where they get a guaranteed price for their produce. And the farmers feared that they would soon find themselves at the mercy of these giant corporations that would insist on extremely low prices for their produce, and they wouldn’t be able to survive.
So the farm laws create a system for contract farming. And so this has resulted in surpluses that end up getting dumped on overseas markets or rotting away in warehouses while other parts of India suffer from malnutrition. And there are guaranteed prices, but it’s not for all crops. So the way the system works now is that the government has these markets where farmers can bring their stock, and buyers can come. And many people are subsistence farmers who barely scrape by and have to take out enormous loans every year to plant and harvest fields and make so little money or end up so deeply in debt that there has been this spate of suicides among farmers in truly astronomical number. So there’s this huge imbalance there, and there’s a lot of inefficiencies. So that’s more than half a billion people and yet only contributes about 11 percent to G.D.P. In fact, it employs about 60 percent of the population. michael barbaroĮMILY SCHMALL So the thing to understand about India is that agriculture in India is the biggest employer by far. And immediately, they started protesting. Modi’s party ushered these laws through parliament in a matter of just days in September 2020. The farmers were, however, and they watched as Mr. So there wasn’t any doubt that this bill would make it through, but the thing is not many people were paying attention. Prime Minister Modi has been in power now for seven years, and he won this landslide re-election in 2019 and commands a huge majority in parliament. So back in June 2020, when India was still under the first coronavirus lockdown, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced quietly these three laws that were meant to dramatically reform agriculture in India.
I spoke with my colleague Emily Schmall about how a group of farmers finally forced him to back down.Įmily, tell us about these protests that have been going on for so long now in India. Today: The prime minister of India has emerged as a popular, fearsome and unbending leader, whose power seemed impossible to challenge.
Wednesday, November 24th, 2021 michael barbaroįrom The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. Transcript The Farmers Revolt in India How agricultural workers organized, protested and faced down Prime Minister Narendra Modi - and scored an unlikely victory.