SHAMBHU: Farmers in India’s northern Punjab state demanding higher prices for their crops from the national government are relying on young students to ensure the agitation’s momentum does not fizzle out.
Eighteen-year-old Simranjeet Singh Mathada is one of thousands of college students who have been waking up at 3 am for almost two weeks to help cook meals at community kitchens, fill tankers with potable water and load tractor trailers with supplies before heading to the protest site some 200 km (125 miles) from the capital, New Delhi.
“The protests are now about safeguarding the country’s agrarian economy and farmers of Punjab are determined to bring this reform at all costs,” said Mathada.
Protester demands are centered around guaranteed floor prices which will allow Mathada’s parents and millions of other farmers to sell their produce at fixed rates.
Even as negotiations between farmer unions and government have been underway, protests have sometimes turned violent.
On several occasions, scores of farmers have suffered injuries trying to force their way through concrete blocks and barbed wires installed by police to prevent them from marching on the capital.
Some police officials were also injured in these sporadic clashes.
“Our determination to bring about the change helps face the police every day,” said Mathada, who is studying for a degree in Arts.
Mathada and his father have been using swimming goggles and a metal shield to protect themselves from thick clouds of smoke and tear gas shells lobbed via drones by the police.
“It has been a shocking experience to see how the police can use force to stop farmers from marching toward Delhi...it has shown me how democracy can fade so quickly,” said Mathada.
Before the protests, Mathada helped his family cultivate crops on their ancestral land and manage a hardware shop.
“For now, the main occupation is to make sure Modi government accepts our demands,” he said, adding that attending college lectures has become secondary for him and some of his classmates.
The protests come just months before elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is seeking a third consecutive term.
Last week, Modi said his government is committed to the welfare of farmers and is on a mission to make them entrepreneurs and exporters.
Mathada will be eligible to vote for the first time but is having doubts.
“I think about democracy and feel a bit disillusioned; I may not even cast my vote this time.”
Young Indian protesters determined to secure agrarian reforms from Modi government
https://arab.news/n8wjf
Young Indian protesters determined to secure agrarian reforms from Modi government
- Thousands of students have been waking up at 3 am to help cook meals, load trailers with supplies before heading to the protest site
- Protester demands are centered around guaranteed floor prices which will allow millions of other farmers to sell produce at fixed rates
EU chief calls additional US tariffs a mistake, insists sovereignty of Greenland ‘non-negotiable’
DUBAI: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described additional US tariffs on Europe as “a mistake,” and insisted that the sovereignty of Greenland was “non-negotiable” during a special address on Tuesday.
“When it comes to the security of the Arctic region, Europe is fully committed. And we share the objectives of the US in this regard … and this is why the proposed additional tariffs are a mistake, especially between longstanding allies,” she said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Donald Trump has vowed to follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on European countries who oppose his demand to take control of Greenland.
The US administration claims it is considering buying the semi-autonomous territory from fellow Nato member Denmark to prevent Russia and China from taking it.
But Von der Leyen said the EU was working on a package to support Arctic security, and also expressed the bloc’s full solidarity with Greenland and Denmark.
“The sovereignty and integrity of the territory is non-negotiable,” she said of Greenland as Trump declined to rule out the option of annexing it by force.
Von der Leyen made a reference to Trump’s wider focus on the Arctic region, which saw Washington order icebreaker ships from Finland.
“We will work with the US and all partners on wider Arctic security. Above all ... Arctic security can only be achieved together.
“Our EU member, Finland, one of the newest NATO members, is selling its first icebreakers to the US. And this shows that we have the capability right here in the ice, so to speak. It shows that our northern NATO members have Arctic ready forces right now.
“The EU and US agreed to a trade deal last July. And in politics, as in business, a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.
“We consider the people of the US not just our allies, but our friends. And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape.”
Von der Leyen insisted that the EU would continue to collaborate with the US on Ukraine amid Russia’s intensifying attacks.
