Letters | India farm law U-turn: sadly, the deaths and violence could have been avoided

Name: India’s Modi announces U-turn on controversial farm laws after more than a year of mass protests
Uploaded: 2021-11-23T17:00:28.000Z
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: India’s Modi announces U-turn on controversial farm laws after more than a year of mass protests

Readers discuss the lessons in India’s farm laws saga, the detention of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan and Hong Kong’s wild boar problem

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Security officers push back protesters supporting farmers’ agitation against agricultural reforms in New Delhi on February 3. Photo: AP

Letters

Published: 1:00am, 24 Nov 2021

India’s government was wise to repeal the controversial farm laws. Irrespective of the long-term benefits of the three laws touted as agricultural reforms, they were unacceptable to farmers from the outset.

Farmers had been concerned that the new laws could lead eventually to loss of their land. For a farmer, particularly in my state of Punjab, land is wealth, land is pride, land is heritage. Even in arranging a marriage, both parties are keen to know, discreetly, how much land each family owns. Often, land comes first, not love. If a man loses his land, it is almost tantamount to losing his virility.

Farmers have agitated for about a year against the new laws, braving roadblocks, blows from lathis or stout bamboo sticks, and water cannons to make their point. An estimated 600-750 farmers died in the protests. Imagine the plight of their families. Life is hard enough with 10,677 farming workers in India pushed into suicide last year, making up 7 per cent of the national total – one of the highest farmer suicide rates in the world.

01:52

India’s Modi announces U-turn on controversial farm laws after more than a year of mass protests

The government’s rollback of the farm laws was triggered by the state elections coming up in the next few months in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, two big agrarian states. There is also the consideration of the 2024 general election beyond that. Across India, about 68.84 per cent of the population live in villages and engage in agricultural activity. Aggrieved by the new farm laws, a wide swathe of the farming electorate would have voted against the ruling party, denting its chances of returning to power.

There are serious lessons in India’s farm laws saga. Governments should discuss any proposed legislation with the people before enacting them. However powerful or popular a government may be, it should know that reforms have to be sold and marketed. Reforms must have buy-in to be effective.

In India, farmers have died, agricultural production has suffered with workers busy protesting instead of ploughing their land, transport arteries have been snarled during the agitation, and police forced to rain blows on those who grow crops to feed the nation.

All these horrors could have been avoided if consensus had been secured first. It is a serious error to underestimate the power of the masses.

Rajendra Aneja, Mumbai