UNREST IN INDIA OVERFARMING LAWS: CAN INDIA’S IMMENSE DIASPORA INFLUENCE GOVERNMENT ACTION?
“O ur objective is that the black laws enacted by the Modi government are repe- aled,” Baljinder Singh, a 52-year-old farmer participating in the protests that gripped India, told Reuters in February, 2021. The protests began in November, in response to laws that the Indian government passed in September to deregulate the country’s agricultural market. More than a 100,000 farmers from the nearby states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh abandoned their homes and decided to camp out
35
on the outskirts of New Delhi, India’s capital, in an attempt to block the major roads. More than 60% of India’s 1.3 billion population depends on agriculture as a primary source of income but farming is only responsible for a sixth of the country's GDP. Agriculture has gone from accounting to nearly 50% of the economy during the 1970s to just 15% in the recent years. Not to mention the fact that most farmers are very small, with nearly 70% of them owning less than a hectare of land, and earn an average annual income of only about 20,000 rupees ($271; £203), according to the 2016 Economic Survey. These recent laws introduced by the Modi-led government have only made situations worse for an already vulnerable class of people by loosening the rules around the buying and selling of agricultural produce. With the government removed as the middleman, the agricultural sector will be fully exposed to the free market, where fluctuating prices can lead to devastating outcomes.
WATERSHED MOMENT:
All in all, the parliament passed three different bills on September 27th , 2020. They all work together to lessen the role of the government in the agricultural market. Some of the changes being introduced include allowing produce to be sold directly to private actors at market price. This is especially monumental, since 90% of farmers sold their products at government-controlled wholesale markets (mandis) which have guaranteed minimum prices for crops. This government support of farmers has existed since the 1960s, when India was embroiled in a harrowing hunger crisis. Among other things, the new bills also eliminate the storage limits of essential commodities, allowing private to stock up, which only government-authorised agents could do before. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called this ‘watershed moment’ for the agricultural sector but various political factions, mostly opposition parties, have accused him of hurrying the passing of the bills in the middle of a pandemic without much consultation of the players involved. Many believe that these bills expose the farmers to the greed of big corporations, which could exploit them and drive down prices for produce.
35
While protests have mostly remained peaceful in the last few months, things did escalate into violence when thousands of protesters attempted to force their way into the city on Republic Day, January 26th, the day when India officially adopted its constitution in 1950. Some of the protestors managed to storm the Red Fort, a historic monument that served as a seat of Mughal power. One protestor died and 300 policemen were injured in the process. However, the most casualties of these protests do not stem from violence but other causes — ranging anywhere from health issues to suicide. Reuters reports that as many as 248 protestors died since they began to camp out outside of New Delhi in November.
segamI ytteG ,0202 ,aidnI ,tsetorP s'remraF
45
While protests have mostly remained peaceful in the last few months, things did escalate into violence when thousands of protesters attempted to force their way into the city on Republic Day, January 26th, the day when India officially adopted its constitution in 1950. Some of the protestors managed to storm the Red Fort, a historic monument that served as a seat of Mughal power. One protestor died and 300 policemen were injured in the process. However, the most casualties of these protests do not stem from violence but other causes — ranging anywhere from health issues to suicide. Reuters reports that as many as 248 protestors died since they began to camp out outside of New Delhi in November.
THE RED FORT OF DEMOCRACY:
The unrest in the country can have significant implications to the world’s largest democracy. Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who’s been in power since 2014, can lose out majorly in the next elections in 2024. This is not the first time India’s prime minister faced domestic and international criticism — most notably for his attempt to exclude Muslim in his citizenship laws.
However, what has been most interesting about the recent protests has been the dialogue between India’s government and members of their global, immense diaspora. India has one of the largest diasporas in the world, with 18 million Indians living outside of their homeland. A number of high profile celebrities of Indian descent — including poet Rupi Kaur, politician Jagmeet Singh, author Meena Harris (and also niece of Vice-President, Kamala Harris), comedian and commentator Hasan Minhaj — expressed their concern over the protest. Some have even taken to protecting themselves. The response got even more heated when news reached that the internet was shut down in some parts of India due to the protests. Celebrities like Rihanna,
55
activist Greta Thunberg and former adult movie star, Mia Khalifa, were all vocal about their outrage on their social media. A number of demonstrations, mostly in the UK and the US, occurred in front of Indian embassies and consulates as a way to object to the bills. This has earned the ire of many nationalist Indians, some of who even went as far as burning the picture of Meena Harris while filming it. In December, Anurag Srivastava, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said the following: “We have seen some ill-informed comments relating to farmers in India. Such comments are unwarranted, especially when pertaining to the internal affairs of a democratic country.”
British lawmakers recently had a debate about the ongoing protests in India on March 8th, in response to an online petition that garnered over a 100,000 signatories. Most of the points raised focused on human rights and democratic freedoms of the protesters. The Indian High Commissioner in London denounced the debate, calling it “one sided” and the protests “a domestic matter”. On the other side of the ocean, in the US, more than 40 lawyers of South Asian descent have expressed their concern in an open letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to condemn and denounce Modi’s government. Back in February, the US government came in support of the farm bills, embracing improvements in efficiency and more private sector investment. However, so far, neither leader has released an official statement on the unrest going on in India, much to the displeasement of many of their citizens of Indian descent.
The recent debate surrounding the actions or, rather, inactions of governments with large populations of Indian descent pushes us towards an interesting question: how far can diasporas influence the domestic actions of their homeland? Can the power of the diaspora come into play in the future as movement across borders increases? By looking at the international response around the events in India, we can attempt to piece the answer together.
FIN.
