For the past few weeks, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have been camped at various borders of Delhi, demanding a repeal of the three farm laws and demanding that the minimum support price (MSP) should be declared a legal right. The laws have received massive backlash ever since they were hurriedly passed in September.
All three laws aim at liberalising Indian agriculture. While farmers fear economic ruin because of these laws, the BJP government has done little to allay these fears.
While several wings of the government have tried to misrepresent the protesting farmers – by blaming them for public inconvenience, calling them supporters of ‘Khalistan’ and emphasising they have been misled – public and popular support for the cause is growing.
The various farm unions have unanimously rejected the concessions offered by the government. Instead, they declared that protests will be intensified in the days to come if the government does not repeal the three laws. The Wire explains the farmers’ demands in this video.