Thousands of farmers prepare to rally in New Delhi скачать в хорошем качестве

Thousands of farmers prepare to rally in New Delhi

(25 Jan 2021) Thousands of tractors lined up on the outskirts of New Delhi on Monday, with farmers ready to rally through the Indian capital to protest new agriculture reform laws. Farmers have been blocking key highways connecting New Delhi with the country's north for almost two months demanding a complete withdrawal of the laws. They plan to parade through the capital in a massive tractor rally on Tuesday, when India celebrates Republic Day. Farmers like Bachan Singh, 62, have travelled from small villages to the capital to participate in the protest and demand the repeal of three new laws. They say the legislation passed by Parliament last September will make them vulnerable to corporate greed and devastate their earnings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government insists the laws will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment. Repeated negotiations have failed over the farmers' core demand that the laws be scrapped. The government has refused, but says it could make some amendments and suspend implementation of the legislation for 18 months. The government "thought they would easily implement these laws and only a small amount of farmers would protest against it. But they had no idea that the entire country would come and occupy the borders of the capital," said Shailendra Choudhary, a farmer who travelled from Bijnor, a town in central Uttar Pradesh state. Farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal. In southwestern Maharashtra state, thousands of farmers joined a sit-in at a sports ground in Mumbai on Monday. Farmers have long been seen as the heart and soul of India, and agriculture supports more than half of the country's 1.4 billion people. But their economic clout has diminished over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India's gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country's $2.9 trillion economy. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...