India High Court Orders Suspension of Farm Laws, with Temporary Relief for Protesters, but No Solution

ECONOMICS

India High Court Orders Suspension of Farm Laws, with Temporary Relief for Protesters, but No Solution

Jan 13 (EIRNS)—A large section of India’s farmers and Narendra Modi-led BJP government continue to remain at loggerheads after India’s Supreme Court issued an order Jan. 12 to New Delhi to “put on hold the implementation of agricultural reform laws and ordered the creation of an independent committee of experts to negotiate with farmers who have been protesting against the legislation,” Associated Press reported yesterday. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of farmers, protesting for more than six weeks, will continue to block half a dozen major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde said an independent committee of four experts will be set up to resolve the crisis. Farmers’ unions have rejected the idea of setting up an expert committee, saying it would be a loaded dice.

The Supreme Court issued the ruling a day after it heard petitions filed by the farmers challenging the three farm laws passed through the Parliament by the Modi Administration last September, without engaging the farmers in the entire process. In their petition, farmers told the Court that they were disappointed with the way talks were proceeding between representatives of the government and farmers, and the farmers demanded withdrawal of all three laws. Farmers pointed out that the laws railroaded through the Indian Parliament will lead to cartelization and commercialization of agriculture, undermining the farmers’ interests.

The government and the farmers’ representatives have met eight times, without making any substantial progress. While the farmers demanded scrapping of the laws as the foundation for any resolution, the government has steadfastly opposed withdrawal of those laws. The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Jan 15