Sept. 20, 2020: Protests Following New Agriculture Laws in India

Following the announcement of new agriculture policies in June 2020, protests began in Punjab, India. By September 20, when these new laws were enacted, protests erupted around the country, spreading to New Dehli and other cities. CNN’s Mandeep Rai Dhillon reported that “by early December, 250 million people had participated in a nationwide strike, in a show of solidarity.”

Farmers’ protest at Tikri Border in January 2021. Source: Public domain

The three laws that were passed were meant to deregulate Indian agriculture, endangering the livelihoods of farmers by commercializing an industry that employs over half the population. With 1.4 billion people in India, it was small-scale farming that eventually led to the country becoming self-sufficient in food to begin with. Now these laws threatened the very economies that so many depended upon.

March to Delhi in November 2020. Source: Public domain

Medha Patkar, a social activist who joined the farmer protests in Delhi and Indore, told NPR,

This sector is not just neglected, but deliberately ignored and underestimated because of the present paradigm of development, which is not just market-oriented but consumerism-based. We want production by the masses — as Gandhi said — not mass production.

As Paige Pagan confirms in her book review of the picture book Mama’s Roti, “Sikh farms are the largest supplier of crops in all of India and dominate Indian exports, yet the labors of Punjabi/Haryana farmers have long been ignored.”

In November 2021, following massive resistance from so many across the country, the government decided to repeal the laws. Protests continued into the following month, with farmers demanding fairer prices for their crops, though quickly died down.

Additional Resources

Mama’s Roti by Raakhee Mirchandani and illustrated by Shreya Gupta (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (read a review by Paige Pagan)

Crowds of Indian Farmers Gather for Days to Protest New Agriculture Laws by Lauren Frayer and Sushmita Pathak (NPR’s All Things Considered)

The World’s Largest Protests You’ve Probably Never Heard Of by Mandeep Rai Dhillon (CNN)

The Sikh Coalition, which engages in work against transnational repression in order to protect the civil rights and lives of U.S.-based Sikhs.