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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers' protests shake Narendra Modi's 2019 bid as Indian economy slows -Archana Chaudhary

Farmers' protests shake Narendra Modi's 2019 bid as Indian economy slows -Archana Chaudhary

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published Published on Sep 29, 2017   modified Modified on Sep 29, 2017
-Livemint.com

For Narendra Modi, the protests involving hundreds of thousands of farmers highlight his struggle to deliver on the promises that swept him to power

New Delhi:
Anger over falling farm incomes has spilled onto streets across a swathe of India’s largest states as farmers struggle with food price deflation and a breakdown of the informal agriculture economy.

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi—already grappling with a sharp economic slowdown and looming job cuts in manufacturing—the protests involving hundreds of thousands of farmers highlight his struggle to deliver on the promises that swept him to power.

Modi’s jobs problem threatens quest to cut India inequality

On 15 September, state officials in Rajasthan joined those of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra—all ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—in promising to waive farmers’ loans after 13 days of protests. But farmers aren’t satisfied.

“We’re planning a national rally on 30 October when we would carry torches to show light to state administrations bumbling in the dark,” said Amra Ram, 60-year-old leader of the All India Kisan Sabha—the farmers’ assembly that represents 15 million members—on the phone from Sikar, Rajasthan. “Our farm incomes are falling and there are no jobs for us anywhere else.”

Farm and labour unions with an estimated combined membership of 30 million are also set to join the wave of demonstrations. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh—which is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of Modi’s ruling BJP—plans to march to the Parliament to protest the government’s policies on 17 November, its president C.K. Sajjinarayanan said over phone from Thrissur in Kerala.

Deepening slowdown

The agriculture sector—employing more than half of the country’s working population—was among the worst hit by Modi’s November cash ban which led plummeting produce prices. Despite the ensuing hardship, farmers largely supported Modi’s move, which they viewed as an attempt to target illegally hoarded wealth. Their backing helped propel the ruling BJP to election wins in key states such as Uttar Pradesh.

Still, farmers’ restlessness worsened after the implementation of the nationwide goods and services tax in July, which further hurt supply chains across the country at the peak of monsoons, when prices of vegetables and grains were expected to gain.

“There’s an uncertainty on the farm product prices—what will we do if we aren’t getting the right prices for our produce?” asked Arun Muluk, from Vadgaon Kashimbe near Pune, who joined at least 100,000 others in protests last month that shut down India’s financial capital, Mumbai. “Farmers have the potential to bring the downfall of this government—the government won’t even know how quickly the tide will turn against it.”

Jagdish Thakkar, a spokesman in the prime minister’s office, didn’t answer calls seeking comment.

For the main opposition Congress Party, there are plans to make this a key election issue. “This government is destroying farmers,” said Ajoy Kumar, New Delhi-based spokesman for the Indian National Congress. “And going by the huge protests across the country we can see that people are coming around to this realization. We have stood by farmers in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana and our leader Rahul Gandhi is right now in Gujarat raising his voice for them.”

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Livemint.com, 27 September, 2017, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/yqoXGiG1SgwcwaC1aL5idL/Farmers-protests-shake-Narendra-Modis-2019-bid-as-Indian-e.html


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