Online access would be suspended until 5pm on Sunday in at least 14 of 22 districts in the state of Haryana near New Delhi, according to Haryana’s Department of Information and Public Relations. The order was first imposed 24 hours a day in three Haryana districts on Tuesday, but has since been extended every day.
A 48-hour international shutdown was also instituted late Friday in three other areas around Delhi’s borders, with the Indian Interior Ministry saying it was ‘in the interest of maintaining public safety and preventing public distress’. . ‘
According to officials, the disappearance should have been lifted on Sunday night, but Paramjeet Singh Katyal, a spokeswoman for Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body representing protest farmers, said the internet was still not working from Monday.
The internet restrictions came after violent scenes last week, while protests against three agricultural laws passed in September continue. Since the end of November, hundreds of thousands of protesters have gathered on the outskirts of New Delhi to protest against changes that they say have not been consulted and that will harm their livelihoods.
Dozens of officers were injured and one protester was killed when a tractor overturned during police rallies near Delhi police headquarters, police said on Wednesday. More than 100 protesters are still missing, Samyukta Kisan Morcha said on Sunday.
An Internet shutdown in areas around New Delhi was also set up from midnight to midnight on Tuesday.
Darshan Pal, a leader of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, condemned the internet blockages and called the movements ‘undemocratic’.
“The government does not want the real facts to reach protesting farmers, nor does it want their peaceful behavior to reach the world,” Pal said in a statement on Sunday. “He wants to spread his false twist around farmers. He is also afraid of the coordinated work of the farmers’ unions over various protest sites and is trying to switch off means of communication between them.”
Nevertheless, farmers are still taking part in the protests, Katyal, Samyukta Kisan Morcha, said on Monday. “Usually these village groups work against each other, but this time they all teamed up for the collective struggle,” Katyal said.
An additional deputy commissioner of police in Delhi, Jeetendra Meena, said police had deployed more forces at the border should there be protests on Monday.
Concerns about democracy
The halt also comes against the growing concern about press freedom in India.
On Saturday, Mandeep Punia, a freelance journalist covering the protests, was arrested on the border between Delhi and Haryana, Punia’s lawyer Akram Khan told CNN on Monday.
Punia was arrested for 14 days from Sunday, and is accused of obstructing a civil servant from performing his duty and voluntarily injuring and causing assault or criminal violence to deter a civil servant from serving.
‘(The) accused merely performed his journalistic duties and another journalist was detained with him but was released around midnight,’ according to an application for bail from Punia.
But Delhi police, Meena, said Punia did not carry an ID card when he was caught in an altercation between villagers and protesters. Meena said Punia incited the farmers and pushed the police.
According to her, there have been reports of violent violence against protesters, and said it is important for farmers to bring their side of the story to the forefront as unbalanced reporting can promote a negative opinion among the public.
The strike could set a ‘very dangerous precedent’, she added.
“It’s not like taking down specific posts or pages that you think are fake or inflammatory, it’s turning off an entire medium of communication.”
Why farmers protest
The massive agricultural protests were a major challenge for Modi as months of protests and sit-ins across the country against his main agricultural policy grew to a stalemate marked by deadlock talks between farmers and his government.
The Indian government has been offering guaranteed prices for certain crops to farmers for decades, providing long-term certainty that has in theory enabled them to make investments for the next crop cycle. The new rules allow farmers to sell their goods to anyone at any price, giving them more freedom to do things like selling directly to buyers and selling to other states.
But farmers argue that the new rules will be worse off by making it easier for businesses to exploit agricultural workers and help large businesses lower prices. While farmers can sell crops at increased prices if demand is there, they may conversely struggle to meet the minimum price in years when there is too much supply in the market.
The laws were so controversial because agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s 1.3 billion people, and farmers have been arguing for years to raise the minimum guaranteed prices. They are the largest constituency in the country – making farming a central political issue.
The government held talks with leaders of more than 30 unions opposed to the laws, but the talks went nowhere.
Last month, the Supreme Court of India issued an order to stop the three controversial farm laws and ordered that a four-member mediation committee be set up to help the parties negotiate. But farmers’ leaders have rejected any mediation committee appointed by the court.
According to Samyukta Kisan Morcha, at least 147 farmers have died in the course of the months-long protests from various causes, including suicide, road accidents and exposure to cold weather. Authorities did not give an official figure on the deaths of protesters.