On December 3rd Indian farmers entered the capital New Delhi to protest for eight consecutive days.
On the same day, the Indian government entrusted ministers of agriculture, railways and other countries to negotiate with the heads of 40 agricultural organizations, and the Indian agriculture minister reaffirmed that the “minimum support price” (MSP) system for agricultural products will not change.
According to Indian media reports, the agricultural law introduced by the Indian government at the end of September aims to hand over the acquisition of agricultural products to the market.
The state has faded out of its role as an important agricultural product owner acquisition channel, hoping that the production and sales of agriculture will be directly traded by farmers with enterprises, and agricultural production can be marketized through orders.
Although the Indian government has repeatedly said that it will not change the “minimum support price” system, farmers worry that once agricultural production and sales are marketized, they will have no room to negotiate with the government and large companies.
They also worry that the government’s current commitment to maintaining the “minimum support price” is only an equity solution to the problem. In view of this, the core demand of protest farmers is to repeal the three controversial agricultural laws and prevent future agricultural markets from being completely subject to large companies.
The overall situation of recent protests is still under control, and there has been no large-scale violence. So far, five farmers have died of illness in the process of entering the New Delhi march, protesting that farmers are ready for a protracted war.
At present, most of the main national highways to and from New Delhi have been closed, and the only few roads are seriously blocked, affecting the supply of basic necessities.
At present, the farmers’ protests in New Delhi have the support of farmers in Assam and other places, and more and more farmers have joined in the protests. India’s Punjab, West Bengal, New Delhi and others have publicly expressed their support for farmers’ protests, demanding that the Indian government repeal the three controversial agricultural laws.
