Neha Chollangi
Special to the Times-Chronicle
A group of local farmers have organized a solidarity protest this weekend to support farmers in India protesting recent agricultural reform laws.
The event is happening on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m., starting in Oliver at Leighton Crescent and ending on Main Street in Osoyoos.
The safety precautions for the event state that anyone who plans on joining should be in a car and remain inside at all times. Also, gathering before or after the protest should be avoided.
Kulshan Aujla from Osoyoos Fruit Basket said that a group of Indian farmers in the Oliver and Osoyoos area organized the event recently after attending the protest in Kelowna last weekend.
There’s been support globally for the issue. Protests have occurred across Canada as well in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, as well as B.C.
The three laws, passed by the Indian parliament in September, will drastically cut down crop prices and force farmers to sell their produce to private markets instead of government wholesale markets which have guaranteed rates.
The Indian government claims that these new laws will make it easy for farmers to sell their crops to big buyers. However, the opposition party and farmers are voicing their serious concerns that these large retailers will exploit farmers. Some opposition party leaders have called the laws “anti-farmer” and “pro-corporate.”
In November, 250 million people took part in a 24-hour strike in India against these laws, making it the biggest protest in human history. These protests started months ago in August before the bills were passed, and are still ongoing today. Farmers are demanding these laws to be completely retracted.
The agriculture sector in India employs half of the population of 1.3 billion, but its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product has been on the decline for the past few decades.
