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WintryInsight t1_j5yzpg0 wrote

Reply to comment by L3XANDR0 in JNU cuts electricity to prevent screening of BBC series on PM Modi, students turn to phones by esporx

Just wanna say that the farmer's strike was instigated by the large mandi owners who wanted to keep a monopoly over the individual farmers' produce. Other than that, the criticism of modi here is perfectly valid.

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a-blue-phoenix t1_j5zfhk0 wrote

Makes sense, but the problem was the method of implementation - you do not make drastic changes like these in a democracy without consulting farmers and taking into considerations all its impacts, which the framing of the amendments showed were several.

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WintryInsight t1_j5zhgm6 wrote

What's sad is that there was a large survey done with the farmers across India on whether they wanted better prices and security against big farmers. A majority wanted these things and that's how the bill started. The large farmers who owned the mandis to which the small farmers sold all their stuff to just gaslighted the farmers into rioting.

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L3XANDR0 t1_j5yzx5z wrote

So the farmers will I'll informed and manipulated?

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WintryInsight t1_j5z1urq wrote

They have no internet, barely working electricity, and most don't have smartphones. The farmers have to either deal with 5 middleman in a process to sell the product, or sell it to the mandi, which is controlled by a large farmer who has very high commission rates.

The government tried to standardize prices, which was higher than what the farmers got from mandis and sold to the government directly, at which the mandi owners got furious over.

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L3XANDR0 t1_j5z21y1 wrote

Son what ended up happening?

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WintryInsight t1_j5z3cwu wrote

Nothing. The government passed the bill, but had to repeal it a year later. The farmers remained poor, and the rich farmers retained their monopoly. Let's be honest, those people are only farmers in name as they don't even manage their farms. The whole reason they're farmers is to get tax cuts as farmers aren't taxed. The mandi owners won in the end.

In short, the farmers are misinformed and think the government has got it out for them and that those rich mandi owners are the only ones protecting them.

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