Farmers in India have been demonstrating for a week in order to seek guaranteed crop prices. They have turned down a government proposal and are planning to march to New Delhi, the nation's capital, instead.
Authorities have employed tear gas and extensively barricaded entry points into New Delhi to thwart a recurrence of the 2021 protests, in which farmers stayed on the outskirts for more than a year, and have obstructed the farmers' attempts to reach the capital.
The movement's leaders said on Monday night that they had turned down the government's offer of a five-year contract with fixed pricing for a certain group of crops, which included maize, cotton, and pulses.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, one of the organisers leading the demonstration, told the Press Trust of India news agency that the government's proposal on Sunday was "not in the interest of farmers."
He declared that on Wednesday, the thousands of farmers who have been camped out about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the capital in anticipation of the government's offer, will start their march back to New Delhi.
"We request that the government either address our concerns or take down the barriers so that we can travel to Delhi and peacefully protest," Dallewal stated.
Tens of thousands of farmers camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi for nearly a year in protest against agricultural rules that the government eventually repealed, and this movement was reignited by the protests.
The farmers who drove tractors this time, hailing from the nearby states of Haryana and Punjab, claim that the administration has not made headway on other important requests from the earlier demonstrations.
The demand for legislation that would ensure minimum support prices for all farm commodities is at the centre of the most recent protests.
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