Written By: Jiya Kathuria
Edited By: Ishaani Patil
Designed By: Khushi Arora
The ability to sift fact from fabrication along with an intimate examination and analysis of information from multifaceted sources relevant to an event or a directive is imperative to form educated political opinions. The proliferation of misinformation regarding the Farmers’ Laws and Protests have had malignant implications resulting in global mayhem. Therefore, this article aims to provide an into the punitive veracity of these circumstances, with regards to the human rights’ violations occurring as a result of the protests.
To begin with, the three laws passed by the Supreme Court of India on 17th September’ 2020 as part of a broad strategy to reform India’s agriculture are as follows: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
In lieu of explicating the intricacies of these laws and their technical implications, the learning focus of this article will encompass the minutiae of the farmers’ protests in retaliation to these laws. The impetus behind the protests is to compel the central government to repeal this directive in its entirety because the farmers believe that the reforms will make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations, erode their bargaining power and weaken the government’s Minimum Support Price system that offers cultivators assured prices from the government. They claim that the laws will prove beneficial to corporate firms and eventually prove to be detrimental to the farm sector, which supports nearly half the country’s population. On the other hand, the Modi government insists that these laws are aimed at shifting the terms in favour of farmers by getting rid of unscrupulous middlemen and vested interests that distorted markets.
The Farmers’ Protest needn’t be thoroughly explicated to search for instances of human rights’ violations; the most apparent indicator of unfathomable injustice is the United Nations Human Rights office’s call for 'restraint' by both protesters and the government during the ongoing farmers' protest in India. "We call on the authorities and protesters to exercise maximum restraint in ongoing farmers' protests. The rights to peaceful assembly and expression should be protected both offline and online. It's crucial to find equitable solutions with due respect to human rights for all," the UN Human Rights’ official Twitter handle said in a tweet.
The intervention of the United Nations succeeds the remarks by global celebrities like Rihanna, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and several others speaking out in support of the farmers. Additionally, the United States also urged the Indian government to recognise peaceful protests and allow access to the internet ensuing reports of internet shutdown in areas around the protest sites at the Delhi border, the US government emphasised that access to information was the "hallmark" of a thriving "democracy".
Despite 11 rounds of negotiation and discourse between the government and the farmers, tensions run high as both sides firmly stick to their stance; refusing to forfeit even an inch. From internet blackouts to unwarranted incarceration, the entire world seems to have a front row witnessing the flimsy foundation of the world’s largest democracy. Violence, agony and chaos is being propagated by both the farmers and the police. Regardless of one’s political alliances, ignoring the blatant human rights’ violations occurring during these turbulent times seems callous and cowardly
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