Thousands of farmers are marching towards Delhi while authorities have turned India's capital

into a fortress, barricading it with razor wire and concrete blocks to try to keep demonstrators at
bay.Farmers began a year-long protest in 2020 against the government's move to introduce
controversial agricultural reforms.Thousands camped at the borders of the capital with dozens
dying from heat, cold and Covid.

Farmer groups called off their strike after the government scrapped the proposed farm laws in
2021 and agreed to discuss their other demands, including guaranteed prices for produce and a
withdrawal of criminal cases against the protesters.The farmers are now back, saying they want
to remind the government of the promises made back then.

WHAT ARE THEY DEMANDING ??

They are demanding pensions and have asked the government to waive their debts.Farmers have
said that those who sell fake seeds, pesticides and fertilisers should be penalised. They want the
government to double the number of work days under rural employment guarantee scheme to
200.
The protesters also want India to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and scrap
all free trade agreements.
The farmers are seeking guarantees, backed by law, for minimum support prices for 23 crops,
whose floor prices should be fixed at 50 percent above the comprehensive cost of production.
THE ROOT PROBLEM
About 47 percent of Indians are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. The average
monthly income for agricultural households was about 10,000 rupees ($120) a month in 2019
and about half of the families were in debt. About half of the country’s farmers lack access to
traditional financing sources.

The declining public spending on farming in the past decade and the lack of reforms have
contributed to the dismal performance of the agriculture sector, which employs close to half of
India’s workforce but generates less than a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product.

WHY THE MSP REGIME DOESN’T HELP FARMERS ?

The reach of the MSP regime as currently implemented is very limited. While the support prices
are announced for about two dozen crops, it works mostly for rice and wheat mainly because
India has vast storage facilities for these grains and uses the produce for its public distribution
system. The government has announced it will provide 5 kilograms of free food grains for 810
million poor until 2028. The system is unfair for those farmers who grow millets, oilseeds, fruits,
and vegetables. Only 2 percent of coarse production was procured during that period.Thus the
support price system, introduced in the 1960s to help India maintain food security, only gives
benefits to a minuscule number of farmers.