Recently, India has passed three new bills regarding the agricultural sector of India, resulting in massive protests and unrest from Sikh and Punjabi farmers. The BJP (Prime Minister Modi's party) has passed these bills with intentions of making the agricultural sector more effective, by making it necessary for farmers to sign contracts and work under private agricultural businesses. Despite Modi's claims of modernizing India and improving the farming industry through these policies, many farmers say otherwise. Agriculture has been an important part of the Indian economy, many of the citizens rely on Sikh and Punjabi farmers for crops as farming is the main industry in Punjab. According to the Vox article “Why tens of thousands of farmers are blocking roads into India’s capital city”, nearly 60 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people depend on farming for their livelihoods. However, farming is also very unproductive, since the sector only accounts for about 15 percent of India’s GDP.
Despite farming's unproductivity, there are many farmers in India. The goal of these policies is to increase the productivity of these agricultural farms, which would risk the farmers' livelihood and income since farming is their only source of work. Many farmers believe that these corporations will exploit them, forcing them into debt and financial distress. According to Vox, "a 2018 study by India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development found that more than half of farmers in India are in debt. More than 20,000 farmers in the country died by suicide from 2018 to 2019, and though there is considerable debate, several studies suggest that farmers’ indebtedness has been a major factor." This is very crucial since these factors are one of the many reasons behind these protests. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the closure of many farms despite farmers receiving government aid, adding to the farmers’ financial distress.
To voice these concerns, many Sikh farmers have led and organized protests in New Delhi, in hopes to override these bills. Shockingly, they were soon met with terrifying acts of violence from the police in riot gear who used water cannons, tear gas, and batons on the protesters. Unfortunately, this is not new to Sikhs as they had serious tension with the Indian government in the past during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Injustices against Sikhs continue due to Modi’s belief that India is only a Hindu state and lack of acknowledgement of minority religions like Sikhism. There have been many scenarios in the past and present, in which Sikhs would speak out against these injustices, but would be shut down by violence from the government. Despite the resistance from the police, many farmers are still going strong and protesting. They are continuing to fight for their livelihoods, authenticity, and freedom.
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Written by: Erum Khan