Indian PM Narendra Modi to repeal farm laws after year of protests [View all]

[muriel_volestrangler]

Narendra Modi has announced he will repeal three contentious farm laws that prompted a year of protests and unrest in India, in one of the most significant concessions made by his government.

In a huge victory for India’s farmers, who had fought hard for the repeal of what they called the “black laws’, the prime minister announced in an address on Friday morning that “we have taken the laws back”.
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However, they quickly became a major source of contention among India’s millions of farmers, who accused the government of passing the laws without consultation. They said the reforms put their livelihoods at risk and gave private corporations control over the pricing of their crops.

After the government refused to repeal the laws last year, hundreds of thousands of farmers marched to Delhi’s borders, met on the way with barricades, teargas and water cannon, and set up protest camps along the main highways into the capital.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/indian-pm-narendra-modi-to-repeal-farm-laws-after-year-of-protests

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Comedian Vir Das causes a stir with 'two Indias' monologue

During his show in the US, Vir Das described a country of two sides where people "worship women during the day but gang rape them at night".
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"I come from an India where we take pride in being vegetarian, and yet run over the farmers who grow our vegetables," he continues, referring to a car, owned by a government minister, allegedly being driven into protesting farmers last month, killing at least eight people.

A Delhi spokesman for the ruling right-wing BJP political party said he had lodged a complaint with the police, accusing Mr Das of making "derogatory statements against women and India".

"They were made in the US and malign the image of our country internationally. I want police to conduct an investigation," said Aditya Jha.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-59323282