Protesting Indian Farmers Call for 2nd Strike in a Week

Protesting farmer leaders shout slogans as they sit on a day-long hunger strike at the Delhi- Haryana border, outskirts of New Delhi, Monday, Dec.14, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Protesting farmer leaders shout slogans as they sit on a day-long hunger strike at the Delhi- Haryana border, outskirts of New Delhi, Monday, Dec.14, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
TT
20

Protesting Indian Farmers Call for 2nd Strike in a Week

Protesting farmer leaders shout slogans as they sit on a day-long hunger strike at the Delhi- Haryana border, outskirts of New Delhi, Monday, Dec.14, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Protesting farmer leaders shout slogans as they sit on a day-long hunger strike at the Delhi- Haryana border, outskirts of New Delhi, Monday, Dec.14, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Tens of thousands of protesting Indian farmers called for a national farmers' strike on Monday, the second in a week, to press for the quashing of three new laws on agricultural reform that they say will drive down crop prices and devastate their earnings.

The farmers are camping along at least five major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi and have said they won´t leave until the government rolls back what they call the "black laws." They have blockaded highways leading to the capital for three weeks, and several rounds of talks with the government have failed to produce any breakthroughs.

Scores of farmer leaders also conducted a token hunger strike on Monday at the protest sites. Heavy contingents of police in riot gear patrolled the areas where the farmers have been camping.

Protest leaders have rejected the government´s offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pricing, and have stuck to their demand for total repeal.

At Singhu, a protest site on the outskirts of New Delhi, hundreds of farmers blocked all entry and exit routes and chanted anti-government slogans. Some of them carried banners reading "No farmers, no food."

About two dozen leaders held a daylong hunger strike at the site, while a huge communal kitchen served food for the other protesters.

"It´s the government´s responsibility to provide social benefits (to people.) And if they don´t give those, then people will have to come together" to protest, said Harvinder Kaur, a government employee who came from her home in Punjab state to help at the kitchen.

Another protester, Rajdeep Singh, a 20-year-old student who helps his farming family back home in Punjab, said the protest would continue until their demands are met.

"Now it´s their (government´s) ego and the question of our pride," he said.

Farmer leaders have threatened to intensify their actions and have threatened to block trains in the coming days if the government doesn´t abolish the laws.

The farmers filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Friday seeking the quashing of the laws, which were passed in September. The petition was filed by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, or Indian Farmers´ Union, and its leader, Bhanu Pratap Singh, who argued that the laws were arbitrary because the government enacted them without proper consultations with stakeholders.

The farmers fear the government will stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices and corporations will then push prices down. The government says it is willing to pledge that guaranteed prices will continue.

With nearly 60% of the Indian population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, the growing farmer rebellion has rattled Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s administration and its allies.

Modi´s government insists the reforms will benefit farmers. It says they will allow farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment.

Farmers have been protesting the laws for nearly two months in Punjab and Haryana states. The situation escalated three weeks ago when tens of thousands marched to New Delhi, where they clashed with police.



Russia Urges US, UK to Restrain Ukraine after Attacks on Bombers

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends the BRICS Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 28, 2025. Mauro Pimentel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends the BRICS Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 28, 2025. Mauro Pimentel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
TT
20

Russia Urges US, UK to Restrain Ukraine after Attacks on Bombers

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends the BRICS Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 28, 2025. Mauro Pimentel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends the BRICS Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 28, 2025. Mauro Pimentel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Moscow said on Wednesday that military options were "on the table" for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them, Reuters reported.

Russia also urged the United States and Britain to restrain Kyiv after the attacks, which Ukrainian officials have lauded as showing Kyiv can still fight back after more than three years of war.

British and US officials have said they had no prior knowledge of Ukraine's attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at military bases over the weekend.

Ukraine also tried to blow up a rail and road link with Crimea on Tuesday, and Russia says Kyiv blew up a highway bridge over a passenger train late on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy said the risk of escalation from the war "going way up" after the attacks on the nuclear-capable bombers. A week earlier, Trump rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin over a fierce aerial attack on Ukraine.

"We urge London and Washington to react in such a way as to stop further escalation," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees relations with the US and arms control, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"All options are on the table," Ryabkov said, when asked what Russia's response to Ukraine's attacks would be. "This is a question for our military."

Russia and the US together hold about 88% of all nuclear weapons.

Asked whether Russia thought the West was involved in the recent attacks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the West supplied weapons, gave target coordinates, refused to condemn such attacks and actively incited them.

"These are several areas that prove the fact of the involvement, both direct and indirect, and the guilt of the West for the terrorist attacks that are taking place against civilians and civilian infrastructure facilities by the Kyiv regime," Zakharova said.

Kyiv has not commented on the bridge attacks. Each side has accused the other of carrying out acts of terrorism during the conflict and each blames the other for a lack of progress at peace talks.

Trump was not informed in advance of Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday. A British government official said the government was not informed ahead of time.