NEW DELHI – India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday halted the implementation of new laws that would shape farming in the country and lead to major protests outside the capital New Delhi, in a setback for Prime Minister Narendra’s government Modi.
The Supreme Court has said it is suspending the laws until a committee of experts it will appoint can consult with government officials and protest farmers to try to find a solution to the dispute. During the first day of the trial on Monday, the chief justice was sharp in his criticism of how the government handled the laws, sHe was very disappointed and feared that the protests could lead to violence.
“We do not want anyone’s injury or blood on our hands,” Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde said during the trial.
It was unclear whether the suspension would satisfy the protesting farmers. They insisted on the complete repeal of the laws. which, according to them, will reduce the little state protection of them and give them to the mercy of corporations.
On the eve of the verdict, local news reports, citing farmers’ leaders, suggested that they should not participate in committees, and saw it as a government ploy to exhaust the protesters.
But shortly after the verdict on Tuesday, AP Singh, one of the lawyers calling some of the farm unions involved in the protests, called it a ‘victory for the farmers’. Union leaders said they would provide an answer after holding talks.
Tens of thousands of farmers have been besieging New Delhi for more than six weeks and have set up well-organized protest camps that stretch tens of kilometers at all the main entrances of the capital. They were stuck despite the winter cold, frequent rains and dozens of deaths in their ranks.
The government of mr. Modi, who has said he wants to almost double India’s economy by 2024, hopes that the growth of private farming in the agricultural sector will be tasted. The new laws, which parliament hastily approved in September leading to protests from opposition parties, will facilitate some government regulations to encourage private investors to trade directly with farmers.
Even with the regulations, such as the minimum guaranteed prices for certain crops, the farmers struggled with rising debt, which drove many of them to suicide. They fear that the new laws will remove the little protection they enjoy and that they will struggle to fight corporate giants for fair treatment.