After negotiations with the government broke down, hundreds of farmers in India marched on New Delhi on Tuesday, demanding minimum crop prices. To stop them, security officers used tear gas.
Approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Ambala, was the scene of heavy tear gas clouds being fired by local broadcasters to scatter demonstrators. Drones were also used by the police to drop tear gas canisters from the sky.
Police have erected a terrifying barricade consisting of steel barricades, cement, and metal spikes on the highways connecting New Delhi with the three neighboring states.
“Maximum numbers have been deployed,” said Delhi Police Assistant Commissioner Ranjay Atrishya.
The city has outlawed meetings of more than five individuals in public.
India’s vast agricultural population gives farmers significant political clout, and the prospect of fresh demonstrations before of the country’s anticipated April election season is worrisome.
Based on official data, around 1.4 billion people in India make their living from agriculture, which contributes to almost 5% of the nation’s GDP.
In response to the January 2021 incident in which farmers broke over barricades and marched into the capital on Republic Day as part of a year-long protest, farmers have called for a “Delhi Chalo,” or “March to Delhi.”
Punjabi farmers’ union leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters, “The farmers are peaceful, but tear gas is being used against us through drones.”
While protesting farmers march towards the capital, Indian police use tear gas
“The protest will continue till the government agrees to our demands.”
Hundreds of tractors were seen traveling in columns from the nearby states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh toward the capital by Indian broadcasters. Some of the tractors were even using their vehicles to remove roadblocks.
Tractor-driving farmers have attempted to go across the countryside in areas where roads could not be cleared.
Police used multiple lines of blockades to stop roads in Ghazipur, on the outskirts of Delhi, as witnessed by an AFP photographer. After erecting concrete blocks, metal barriers, and razor wire as a first line of defense, police buses were brought in.
In a statement, police in the state of Haryana, which borders Delhi, stated that they had made “strong arrangements” and that the situation was “under control”.
A minimum price law for their products is what the farmers are requesting, along with a number of additional concessions including loan forgiveness.
Opposition Congress MP from Haryana, Randeep Surjewala, stated, “The government should listen to the farmers instead of using tear gas shells and guns against them.” Haryana is the state from which many of the farmers who are protesting are from.
Farmers’ demonstrations against bills pertaining to agricultural reform in November 2020 lasted for nearly a year, posing the worst threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration since it took office in 2014.
After that, tens of thousands of farmers erected temporary camps, and the protests claimed the lives of at least 700 individuals.
A year after the demonstrations started, in November 2021, Modi forced the repeal of three controversial laws through parliament, which farmers had said would give private corporations more control over the nation’s agricultural industry.
A significant number of Indian farmers take their own lives each year due to poverty, debt, and crops impacted by increasingly unpredictable weather patterns brought on by climate change.
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