Thousands of farmers, workers and agricultural laborers have marched through New Delhi streets demanding better wages, more jobs, higher prices for their produce and an end to privatization of state-run companies.
Waving red communist flags and banners, the protesters ended their rally near India’s Parliament, blaming the government for the agriculture sector’s hardships caused by years of declining earnings.
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Wednesday’s march was organized by the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Rain-dependent agriculture employs more than half of India’s 1.3 billion people, but shrinking earnings means it now only adds 15 percent to India’s economy. The bulk of Indian farmers are poor.
Failed harvests force poor farmers to borrow money at high interest rates for buying seeds, fertilizers and even food for their cattle.
