Indian Farmers Stage Hunger Strike to Protest against Government

Indian farmers, who are still protesting against agrarian reforms in the country, have decided to go on hunger strike for a period of 9 hours every day, according to the Indian "NDTV" television.

The angry farmers continue to sit-in on the outskirts of the federal capital.

The Prime Minister of Delhi State, Arvind Kejriwal, declared his solidarity with the hunger strikers, as he also abstained from eating from eight in the morning until five in the evening.

Yesterday the protesters tried to enter the capital, New Delhi, with their tractors, despite the barriers set up by the security forces, in their second strong move over the past week.

The protesting farmers have closed the highways on Tuesday with various vehicles.

So far, 6 rounds of negotiations have failed to reach an understanding between peasant unions and the government, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi adheres to his reforms.

He stressed that the new laws, which change marketing and price mechanisms, in the agricultural sector, serve farmers and raise their incomes in the long run.

But the farmers respond that those laws are very harmful to their interests.

They warn that the new laws benefit only the private companies that will impose their will on the peasants.

The crisis intensifies 19 days after the start of the sit-in and the protest, and the protests expand nationally.

Farmers in India are escalating their protests against the agrarian reform that the government intends to implement.

In this context, tens of thousands of people tried yesterday, Sunday, to reach the capital, New Delhi, despite the checkpoints set up by the security forces to prevent them.

The assurances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not convince the angry protesters who have been at the sit-in for 18 days.

He told them last Saturday the government has taken all these initiatives to double the farmers' incomes," while many political and trade union formations rushed to declare their solidarity with the protesters and demand that the government listens to their demands.