International Women’s Day: Thousands of Women Join Farmers’ Protest In India

Thousands of women have joined the farmers’ protest against the new agricultural laws for the past several months.

According to the reports, thousands of women gathered on the outskirts of Delhi on the occasion of International Women’s Day and demanded the repeal of new agricultural laws.

It may be recalled that since December last year, farmers and their families have set up protest camps at three different places on the outskirts of the Indian capital, protesting against the government’s agrarian reforms.

Women wearing yellow sheets resembling a mustard crop were the centre of attention in the protest camp, chanting slogans, marching and making speeches against the law.

“This is an important day because it is a manifestation of women’s power,” said Veena, 37, from a farming family.

“I believe that if we unite, then we can achieve our goals very quickly,” said Veena, who came from the Indian state of Punjab to protest.

Police and protest organizers said more than 20,000 women took part in the protest, which took place near the border between the capital Delhi and the state of Haryana.

“This is a day that will be managed and controlled by women, the speakers will be women and women’s issues and laws related to women farmers will be discussed,” said social activist Kavitha Kuruganti.

“This is another opportunity to highlight the role that women are playing in both Indian agriculture and the movement,” she said.

On the other hand, the Indian government is of the view that these reforms will lead to private investment in agriculture, improve the sector as well as help reduce agricultural waste.

Narendra Modi’s government had offered the protesters to postpone the laws for a year and a half, but the farmers rejected the offer and demanded the repeal of the laws.

Agriculture accounts for about 15% of India’s 9 2.9 trillion economies and employs a large number of people.

Kavitha Kuruganti said the new laws hurt women farmers as much as men.

She said that the situation in the markets was already very difficult for a single woman and now it will get worse.

There were at least 30000 women farmers that I encountered at Tikri Border today. Not to mention many other women farmers who were part of #WomensDayinFarmerProtest . My heart sang at the prospects that this holds in terms of deep changes in our society. pic.twitter.com/3BTlpHwfQ9

— Kavitha Kuruganti (@kkuruganti) March 8, 2021

#WomensDayinFarmerProtest – just look at the women power here! pic.twitter.com/Q2XRxUSgT0

— Kavitha Kuruganti (@kkuruganti) March 8, 2021

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