DM Monitoring
NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday criticised the government for failing to break a deadlock with farmers protesting against reforms of the agricultural sector. Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi, for more than a month, and have promised to march during Republic Day celebrations on Jan 26, against what they see as laws benefiting large private buyers at the expense of producers.
Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde said in a hearing on Monday the drawn-out confrontation was causing distress to farmers.
“We are extremely disappointed at the way government is handling all this,” Bobde said. “We don’t know what consultative process you followed before the laws. Many states are up in rebellion.”
He repeated a suggestion that the government pause the legislation while farmers’ concerns are heard and said the court would pass orders if the two sides remained at an impasse. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the legislation is aimed at modernising an antiquated agricultural system, which suffers from colossal wastage and bottlenecks in the supply chain. But farm leaders say the laws are an attempt to erode a longstanding minimum support price for their crops and they want a full repeal of the laws.
The government has said there was “no question” of this happening, and eight rounds of talks have failed to find common ground. The two sides are set to next meet on Friday.
Earlier December local media reported that at least 25 people were died, several of them due to the biting cold weather, during the three-week protest by farmers on the Indian capital’s borders, police said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers to “very humbly” hold further talks with the protesting farmers.
Manoj Yadav, director-general of police in the northern Haryana state, told media at least 25 farmers have died since November 26 when tens of thousands of farmers began demonstrations against three farm laws passed by the government in September.
“There have been about 25 deaths so far,” Yadav said, one of them being death by suicide two days ago. The police officer said at least 10 people died in separate road accidents as they travelled from Punjab and Delhi states to participate in the protests. However, farmer leader Darshan Pal told media the “number of dead could be as high as 35”. He said they died in the struggle against the “black farm laws” which farmers say will erode their incomes and help big corporations.
At least five farmers died in accidents on their way to join the protests, said Ashutosh Mishra, spokesman for the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. The farmers, many in their sixties or above, have been braving North India’s harsh winter to camp out in the open with their tractors and trailers parked bumper to bumper. Cold wave conditions sweeping across northern India with temperatures plummeting to three to four degrees Celsius (37-39 degrees Fahrenheit) at night have made the situation worse, Mishra said.
The Indian agriculture acts of 2020 refer to the agricultural bills passed by the Lok Sabha on 17 September 2020 and by the Rajya Sabha on 20 September 2020. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent for the three bills on 27 September 2020.Protests against the acts picked up in September 2020.
