A national association of Catholic theologians in India has expressed solidarity with farmers protesting against three new farm laws on the borders of the national capital for the past 70 days.
“We the members of Indian Theological Association firmly support the cause of the farmers and all those who strive relentlessly for peace founded on justice. We demand that the government listens to the voice of the poor and repeals the controversial laws,” the theologians assert in a statement issued on February 3.
The association points out that the farmers started the Delhi protests on November 26, 2020, demanding the repeal of the new farm laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price for their agricultural produce.
The Indian agriculture acts of 2020, often referred to as the Farm Bills, are three acts initiated by the Parliament of India in September 2020. They are: the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, The Essential Commodities Act (Amendment) Bill and the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill.
The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, approved the bills on September 17, 2020, and the upper house Rajya Sabha passed them three days later. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent on September 27, 2020. “The laws have made Indian farmers, most of them own less than one acre, even more vulnerable by giving the levers of power to the big agri-business companies,” the Indian Theological Association (ITA) said in.