India's farm protests to go on despite Modi's repeal of laws

NEW DELHI • India's farmers will continue their protests even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to repeal controversial farm laws, and their demands include price guarantees for their crops, a senior farm leader said.

The demands from the farm groups include minimum price guarantees for all major crops, Mr Vijoo Krishnan, joint secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, a Communist Party of India-affiliated farmers' union, said yesterday.

That is something the government has deemed unfeasible.

The government buys about two dozen agricultural commodities, including some food grains, pulses and oilseeds, at pre-determined prices for its welfare programmes.

The farm laws were rushed through Parliament last year and resulted in tens of thousands of farmers across north India taking to the streets in protests.

Last Friday, Mr Modi tried to end the protracted stand-off by agreeing to roll back that legislation in the next session of Parliament starting next Monday.

The move came ahead of elections in crucial states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab early next year.

"This will be a long-drawn struggle," Mr Krishnan said.

The new laws, which had already been suspended by the Supreme Court in January, allowed farmers to sell crops directly to private firms instead of licensed middlemen at state-controlled markets.

While Mr Modi said the laws would help them earn more cash, farmers feared those firms would not give them minimum prices set by the government.

BLOOMBERG