Farmers raise heat, Govt tries to ease pressure

As farmers intensified protests against the three farm reform acts on Monday, the Union Agriculture Minister has stated that the Government is looking forward to another round of talks with the farmers’ unions. The rounds of talks between the Central and the farmers so far have turned out to be inconclusive, as while the Government said that it was ready to make amendments, farmers were clear that the protests won’t stop until the three laws are repealed.

On the 19th day of the protests in Delhi, the heads of 32 farmers’ organisations went on a hunger strike. Farmers from different parts of the country including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc. reached Delhi to participate in the protests. However, 10,000 farmers from Haryana, who were trying to go to Delhi, were stopped at the border by the Haryana Government, prohibiting them to reach Delhi. Meanwhile, the Delhi-Jaipur Highway that was blocked by the farmers marching from Rajasthan to Delhi yesterday, continues to be blocked today as well towards the National Capital. Over 2,000 women from the families of the protesting farmers will be joining the farmers at the Singhu border in the coming days, if the protests continue to intensify. 

Protests against the three farm reform laws have been ongoing since September. Demonstrations began around three weeks ago when thousands of farmers from northern states of Punjab and Haryana set out towards New Delhi to protest against these bills. The government tried to suppress the protests with force, as they employed water cannons and teargas shells, erected barricades and barbed wire fences, dug trenches on highways, and arrested hundreds of activists. Braving it all, tens of thousands of farmers have amassed on the Delhi border and have laid siege to the capital.