In India, most people depend on farmers, who work on small and local farms, and the food they produce to live. As Slate mentions, despite providing most of the country with food for a living, farmers in India have been oppressed by the government and exploited by landholders continuously. According to TIME, in September, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, proposed a new legislation that deregulates the sale of crops, which allows private buyers leeway into the market that has been dominated by government subsidies. Farmers in India state that this legislation puts small and local farms and risk of losing their business to big corporations.

As a result of this new legislation being proposed, the largest protest in history took place in India to protest new legislation that is set to benefit large corporations at the expense of small farmers. Around 250 million people participated in a 24-hour long general strike in solidarity with the farmers of India. The farmers marched to the capital in protest, forcing the government, for the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule, to come down and meet the protesters instead of oppressing and exploiting them.

Indian farmers demanded that the government countermand the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce, Farmers Agreement and on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, and the Essential Commodities Ordinance but due to this negotiation with the government failing, farmers have decided to march to Delhi to protest where they were met with tear gas, water cannons, and other extremes of police brutality.

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