Why are Indian farmers protesting again?

Indian police fired teargas on Tuesday to scatter hundreds of farmers and supporters on a protest march to the capital New Delhi to demand better prices for their produce.

The latest round of farmer protests comes just months before the next general election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win his third term in office.

Still, his government wants to avoid any major confrontation with farmers who may not always vote as one bloc but still enjoy sizeable influence in the countryside where most Indians live.

Modi’s administration also aims to prevent a repeat of a year-long protest in 2020-21 when growers forced the government to repeal laws designed to deregulate vast agricultural markets.

WHY ARE FARMERS PROTESTING?

Farm union leaders are seeking guarantees, backed by law, of more state support or a minimum purchase price for crops.

The government announces support prices for more than 20 crops each year to set a benchmark, but state agencies buy only rice and wheat at the support level, benefiting around just 7% of farmers who raise those crops.

State agencies buy the two staples at government-fixed minimum support prices to build reserves to run the world’s biggest food welfare programme that entitles 800 million Indians to free rice and wheat. This costs the government $24.7 billion annually – its largest outgoing subsidy.

In 2021, when Modi’s administration repealed the farm laws after India’s longest farmers’ protest in years, the government said it would set up a panel of growers and government officials to find ways to ensure support prices for all produce. Farmers accuse the government of going slow in fulfilling that promise.