Episode 10 - Bad Table Manners

Revolutionary Seed: Voice to Indian Farmers

In September 2020, the government of India approved a series of agricultural acts, often referred to as the “Farm Bills.” What was proposed threatened to change the state of agriculture in India forever, and thus, inspired a long farmers' protest that is only just coming to a conclusion (thanks to a recent announcement that confirms the laws have been repealed). This episode tracks my journey to Tikri border — located on the capital’s suburbs — where thousands of farmers lived as they protested the effects of neoliberalism on Indigenous agricultural systems. Cooking with the community and feeding everyone who came to the site (including the police!) was one crucial way in which solidarity was cemented. My guide, and the guest of this show, is the inspirational activist Navkrian Natt, who along with thousands of farmers, resisted injustice with all her heart.

In this episode, Meher talks to:

• Navkiran Natt is an activist and co-editor for Trolley Times, a protest newspaper designed to counter government propaganda.

Episode highlights:

The Farm Bills

• Meher outlines the Farm Bills and how they affected farmers. They were designed to deregulate the agricultural sector, she says, suggesting that giving farmers greater market access would double their income. Activists disagreed, however, stating that removing market protections would aggravate rather than alleviate distress.

• “Liberalizing,” “increasing access,” and “opening markets” were terms used that disguised the harm done to farmers and citizens, Navkiran says. These bills did not support the farmers, but merely opened the market up to large corporations.

• Minimum price guarantees (MPGs) were a large point of contention in the protests. MPGs acted as protections for farmers to mitigate dangerous price fluctuations. These protections were removed in the Farm Bills.

“Bad Apples”

• Large corporations have ruined the food trade in India, a farmer tells Meher in Tikri. Meher provides the example of how Adani Agri Fresh, an agri-corporation in India, fixed prices for apples well below their market value, forcing farmers to either lose money selling apples or stop harvesting them altogether.

• The free market really only allows large corporations the freedom to monopolize markets and control prices, Navkiran argues.

Protests in Tikri

• Meher discusses the opinions of protestors she interviewed. Overall, neoliberalization wasn’t understood as an abstract concept at the protest site, but rather it was understood in terms of life or death, she says. 

• Dissent is dangerous in contemporary India, but the government wasn’t as successful in squashing the farmers’ protest, Navkiran explains. This was largely due to a sense of collectivism among the protestors. The farmers’ movement was about not just the farmers, she says, but the common people.

• Protestors also exercised generosity among themselves, offering food and tea to fellow activists.

Protest Sites as Microcosms of Life

• Meher goes on to describe the community infrastructure she found at the protest sites: kitchens, markets, schools, libraries, clinics, cinemas, and even a disco. 

• She concludes Season 1 of Bad Table Manners by stating that through endurance, persistence, and unity, the fight for a better life can be achieved.