Link to Article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/violent-clashes-as-indian-farmers-storm-delhis-red-fort
In response to new agriculture laws, farmers protest on the grounds of a historic fort and violence breaks out. Hundreds of thousands of farmers-many on tractors or horses- broke through police baracades around the capital and entered the grounds of the Red Fort on Tuesday. Police hit the protesters with batons and fired tear gas in hope to disperse the crowds. Dozens were injured and one was confirmed dead after the protest.
Standing on the ramparts of the Red Fort, a farmer from Punjab, Diljender Singh, held aloft the flag of Sikhism shouting to the protesters and government that they would continue to protest if their demands were not met. However, this is not the first time farmers have taken action in response to these agricultural laws that deregulate produce markets; tens of thousands of farmer have camped on the outskirts of the capital since November. The farmers fear that these new laws will offer no protection for crop prices and will leave them at greater risk of losing their land.
Despite authorities agreeing to leet the farmers stage a tractor rally after the Republic Day parade, protesters climbed over guards and pushed onwards towards the city. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Hindu nationalist government have continued to face this backlash for the past 6 years during its reign. One peaceful protester, Jaspal Singh, stated that the government had planted their men amoung the protesters to do violence in order to give farmers a bad name. He urged those protesting to continue to do it peacefully. He also stated that he made a promise to his family that he would not return until the laws were lifted.
40% of India’s population are employed by Agriculture, with the buisness being plagued by poverty and inefficiency, rates of farmer suicides in India are amoung the highest in the world. The protest infuriated many of India’s politicians who were shoked at the levels of violence taken. However, an umbrella organisation that represents more than 40 farmers’ unions, Samyukta Kisan Morcha, stated that “anti-social elements had infiltrated the otherwise peaceful movement”
As stated in this article and many before it, backlash from India’s poverty-striken farmers has unfortunately been a part of a reoccurring cycle. Farmers in India constantly struggle with the cultivation of their crops. Many suffer production risks such as drought, flood, lack of assured and adequate irrigation, crop failure, and much more. The land is scarce and incentives for good resource management are nonexistent. The three farm acts passed by the Parliament of India in September of 2020 have left many farmers fearing for the lives of their families. India’s response to these protesters will be examined by many other nations, alongside the anxious farmer population.
This article reiterates the roots of poverty that tangle and tightly grasp the majority of India’s population. With farmers on strike, resources cultivated by the farmers will rapidly decline in the upcoming weeks, potentially affecting India’s exportation. Other nations will begin to turn heads towards India, awaiting a government response. However, many nations have been well aware of India’s situation regarding its farmers high suicide rate, political instability, widespread impoverishment, and famine. Will MDCs continue to watch India fall regardless of its people suffering? This unfortunately reflects the realist theory in which nations turn their heads back onto the hierarchy of powers and their potential role as a world power.