India

Thousands of angry farmers across India blocked roads on Saturday with makeshift tents, tractors, trucks, and boulders to pressure the government to roll back agricultural reforms that have triggered months-long protests.

Iran press/ Asia: The initial protests were started by rice and wheat growers from northern India who camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi, but demonstrations spread across the country, especially in states not ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.

The federal government has offered concessions to the farmers but refuses to repeal three laws passed last year that it says are crucial to bringing new investment to the sector, which accounts for nearly 15% of India’s $2.9 trillion economies and about half its workforce.

Farmers fear the reforms will leave them at the mercy of big corporate buyers, gradually ending the current practice of assured government purchases.

Saturday’s three-hour road blockade, started around noon across the country, except in New Delhi and a couple of neighboring states. The protests were largely held on national and state highways but it was business as usual in most cities.

Avik Saha, a secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella organization of farmer groups, said about 10,000 places across India were blocked in the three hours.

On a highway near the capital, some farmers smoked hookah as songs played on a loudspeaker.

Farmers squatted on the road in the eastern state of Odisha and Karnataka in the south with flags and banners protesting against the laws. Some carried placards urging the government not to treat them as enemies.

Since Jan. 26 turmoil, authorities have shut down the mobile internet in parts of the national capital and heavily barricaded border roads to prevent protesters from coming into the city again.

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