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  • ☭CommieWolf☆@lemmygrad.ml
    11·
    3 days ago

    Can some Indian comrades please explain these protests a little? I’m still unsure what to make of them, as I’ve read about Indian farmer protests happening for the past 5 years at this point. What are their goals? What’s their class nature? Is it anything like the European farmer protests in the last couple of years?

    • loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
      13·
      3 days ago

      Their main demand is this:

      The farmers have been demanding a legal MSP on the basis of the C2+50% formula (total cost of production + 50% profit)

      MSP means Minimum Support Price. Minimum support price for a given produce means that the government will buy that produce off you at the specified minimum support price. This gives farmers a safety net in two ways. First, it dictates the minimum price of their produce on the free market. Second, if they cannot find a buyer on the free market they can always sell to the government.

      I am unsure of the class character because I have never seen any statistics about this. There are two kinds of farmers generally. Some own a small/medium amount of land and struggle to make ends meet. Few own a ton of land and employ underpaid labour to operate on their farm thereby turning large profits. The latter class is small in quantity but incredibly rich, powerful and influential. The protestors are a mix of both.

      It is not perfect but at this point I will take anything that opposes BJP ever encroaching austerity.

      • ☭CommieWolf☆@lemmygrad.ml
        7·
        3 days ago

        Thanks for the information. I’m always a bit hesitant to support farmer’s protests, because it’s often the case that they’re just powerful land owners and petite bourgeoisie types that get mad at the government attempting to regulate them, particularly the ones in Europe which almost always tend to do so in opposition to regulations regarding climate change.