The Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) network issued a statement in solidarity with farmers and groups from rural India, calling for the repeal of the Indian Agriculture Acts of
2020.
The statement issued by ANGOC network stated that the network stands in solidarity with farmers and groups from rural India, who call for the repeal the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, collectively known as the new Farm Laws or Agriculture Acts of 2020. More than half of India’s workforce relies on agriculture as a source of livelihood. With the outbreak of COVID-19, more people have turned back to agriculture amid livelihood insecurity in urban areas. Yet low financial returns from agriculture, insurmountable debts, coupled with vulnerability to the effects of climate change on their livelihood, have led many farmers in India to take their own lives out of desperation.
According to the statement small producers should be supported by the government for their livelihood to thrive and for food security to be ensured, and not be treated like fodder for a globalised, neoliberal food market. With the enactment of the Farm Laws, farmers will be further left to fight losing battles against larger, more affluent producers and corporations: market competition will be a farce in deregulated markets outside of mandis; farmers of non-essential crops will also succumb to lower returns; and direct contracts with agribusinesses will enable unjust prices and terms. ANGOC network also denounced the apparent decay of democracy in India.
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It is appalling that in the world’s largest democracy, farmers were largely left out of consultations on these laws that directly affect the majority of its people.
Since November 2020, the persistent uproar from uncompromising farmers is in response to this series of deprivations. Unfortunately, protests have been met with indifference and even violence. In this context, the statement has called on the Government of India to demonstrate that it puts the rights and needs of its people before inequitable economic gain. The statement called: Revoke the Indian Agriculture Acts of 2020! Protect democracy! Food and freedom! Jobs and justice! Land and labor! Peace and prosperity!
ANGOC network along with its members have demanded the Government of India to immediately revoke the three recently passed farm laws. The list of signatories includes: Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), Community Development Association (CDA), Bangladesh, STAR Kampuchea, Cambodia, Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development (AVARD), Ekta Parishad, India, South Asia Rural Reconstruction Association (SARRA), India, Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA), Indonesia, Bina Desa, Indonesia, Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC), Nepal.
ANGOC is a regional association of national and regional networks of civil society organisations in Asia actively engaged in food security, agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture, participatory governance, and rural development. ANGOC member networks and partners presently work in 9 Asian countries with an effective reach of some 3000 CSOs and constituency-based organisations.