Thousands of people are protesting with farmers in India. This is why you should care

 

Farmers in India have reached a stalemate with the government over its proposed amendments to laws the farmers feel will ravage their livelihoods and create an opportunity for large, private companies to enter and exploit the entire agriculture sector.

 

The laws directly impact the farmers in India, but they could also have a significant impact to consumers globally, who rely on India for many key items such as turmeric, chili and ginger.

 

To fight against three laws passed in September, farmers from all across the country have been protesting for days just outside New Delhi -- despite the capital being a hotspot for Covid-19 in a country that has already reported more than 9.4 million cases.

 

More than half of India's working population comes from the agricultural sector, according to India's most recent Census in 2011. From 2018-2019, the average Indian farmer earned 10,329 rupees (about $140) per month, according to data from a Hindustan Times analysis. Of these 263.1 million workers, many solely rely on farming to put food on their own table and roof over their head.

 

Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh arrived by tractors and on foot in New Delhi last month where they blocked roads and set up makeshift camps, according to protest leaders. Some slept on the road or in their tractors, and several places of worship offered protesters food.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/11/world/fa...trnd/index.html

 

Have you been following this humongous news story from India (and now rippling over the entire world - finally!)? Is this the first you have heard of it?

 

With protests happening across the UK, it seems like the British media may finally take notice of what is happening!

 

I've been seeing it a bit on social media, but before now only amplified by a specific set of leftist content creators. Which is a bit ridiculous for the largest protest in world history, I'm happy to see it on more mainstream news sites.

 

The absolute scale of it is pretty hard to grasp, considering the stat I saw, 250 million people on strike, is equivalent to most of the entire working population of the USA on strike. More power to them, I hope they get what they're demanding, they absolutely do not earn enough considering how backbreaking their work is.

This was raised in Parliament last week but Boris Johnson bizarrely ignored the question and just reiterated the UK policy about Kashmir. BIZARRE.

 

@1336734535862661121

Eh??

 

How is this man fit to hold office

Not sure what this means for Modi, will he get voted out in the next Indian election (is he eligible under Indian laws for another term?).

From my understanding of Indian politics, Modi is an extreme Hindu nationalist, and much of the Hindu community will be voting for him no matter what. Regardless he's in power until 2024 most likely, I don't think there's any sort of term limits, and the opposition party is in complete disarray after relying too much on the Nehru/Gandhi (Indira, not Mohandas) political family and letting the BJP control the conversation.

 

The BJP have a huge majority, gigantic, I can't see them getting voted out in one term, not even with this.