Farming is one of the oldest occupations in the world. Nearly a billion people around the world are engaged in farming. Nearly 80% of this is small farming, with farms ranging from an acre to 10 acres. At such small scales, farming is not a profitable business. Without subsidies, there would only be industrial-scale farming, with little variety in foods and considerably more damage to the environment.
More than half of India’s population depends for their livelihoods on farming. So far the Indian State has subsidised agriculture in different ways, particularly in states in which farming is the mainstay of the economy.
Our Gurdwara Sahib and sangat support our farmers in punjab. The sangat of southall raised thousands to provide humanitarian relief to those living at the camp sites around Delhi.
In November 2020, the BJP Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to dramatically reform the way farming is done in India. The Government argues that it has brought in long-needed reforms. The reforms were brought without consulting farmers in the regions that produce most of the produce for India.
The farmers do not like the reforms. They think the reforms are a backdoor approach to end small scale farms and encourage large corporate sectors to enter into profitable farming. The farmers are protesting against these laws. They have been engaged in one of the biggest peaceful protests in history. They want the laws repealed.
