In India, the farmers’ movement, which started last Tuesday, is expanding this Friday, February 16 as hundreds of them are already occupying a major highway in the north of the country and trying to go to New Delhi to demonstrate. Today, a larger strike movement is taking place across the country to demand the establishment of a guaranteed minimum price for the main crops.
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With our correspondent in New Delhi, Sébastien Farcis
Farmers want to paralyze the rural economy this Friday, since thousands of them occupy roads, certain rural infrastructure works are stopped, deliveries of agricultural products are stopped, and many markets closed.
This agricultural strike is launched by a large confederation of farmers, and carries the same demands as the movement launched since beginning of the week on the roads of Punjab: namely, the establishment of a guaranteed minimum purchasing price throughout the country for major crops.
The federal Minister of Agriculture has just conducted a third session of negotiations with trade union organizations, and continues to say that it will be complicated to deploy such a measure, because it would have a significant impact on food prices, and would also be difficult to apply in very different regions. However, an agreement could be found on secondary demands, such as reducing the price of electricity.
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