QUESTION:
What as an Indian is your response to the strike by Indian farmers?

ANSWER:
There is an over-whelming support for the cause they are standing for and the whole of India stands in awe at the tenacity and endurance of the far-mers. There are five rea-sons for the wide support they are getting. First, farmers are the bread makers of the country. Computers and Whatsapp do not produce food to feed the hungry. Producing food needs hard and long labour in scorching heat and in pinching cold. Secondly, the new law as per all the information available is against the “common good.” The “common good” requires that our efforts cater to the welfare of all, especially the most vulnerable, the elderly, the sick and the children. The people of India have begun to realize that the new farm laws are not meant for the common good but to pro-mote the vested interests of a group of people whose bottom line is profit. Thirdly, they are expressing the people’s view that handing over power through electoral victory to a particular party does not amount to giving it the right to bull-doze the interests of the common man who does not have much accessibility to many of the privileges en-joyed by a powerful minority in this country. The government should at least safeguard and protect the basic needs of the general public. Fourthly, farmers are the backbone of any culture, precisely because they are the people who protect us from starvation. They deserve our respect. Finally, the farmers are screaming out to the government, “Our country is not for sale.”

Bishop Sebastian Adayanthrath
Mandya