Tuesday
November 23
2021

India’s Farmers Confronted Modi and Won. What Happens Now?

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In a surprise reversal after more than a year of nonstop protests, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to repeal three controversial laws affecting the country’s agricultural industry.

The laws, which sparked a massive protest movement after they were passed in September 2020, were designed to modernize India’s agriculture industry — but India’s farmers and other critics said they would advantage corporations at farmers’ expense.

Modi’s decision to back down is a key victory for farmers, whose protests have centered on the Indian capital of New Delhi, and a sign of growing dissatisfaction with the increasingly Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which Modi leads.

Photo courtesy of Evgeny Nelmin.

Source: Vox (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Agriculture
Tags
corporations, governance, smallholder farmers