Posted on 01/26/2021 3:57:54 PM PST by blueplum
Were the demonstrators riding Mahindras?
There no details which might give outsiders an idea of the politics involved on both sides, either.
“...100 year old tractors...”
Those tractors looked pretty new and modern to me.
Hard to draw a conclusion with facts at-hand, in that article.
True. Maybe the Wall Street Journal will have something more informative tomorrow.
Looks like Times Square used to look like at lunch hour, back in the mid-70s. Heh.
Lol! I hear Limbaugh plugging for that company on his show. He should be plugging John Deere.
Didn’t see any. The parent company is in South Korea. Mahindra is also manufactured in China.
The only thing that would really help them is a free market in agriculture, but I doubt that’s what they want.
Actually, the Indian gov't is trying to get out of the way. But corrupt middlemen who have long exploited illiterate farmers are objecting and forcing farmers to protest. Note that the protesting farmers are primarily from only 2 of 30+ states and Union territories. Majorly from Panjab state and a few from Haryana and even fewer from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Farmers in the other states have welcomed the move. That is because they realise that the existing system, which forces crop to be sold only at Corruption be-devilled gov't owned grain markets, is regressive.
The protesting farmers also want the same price on all wheat and rice irrespective of quality and pesticide content, which the Gov't has so far refused to accept.
The laws regarding the environment is because of the enormous pollution that cloaks N India when the farmers burn the stubble in the fields to save money. It is cheaper than tilling it out. The Supreme Court has asked the Govt to stop farmers doing this and there are many incentives avaialble for it . But typically the farmers take the money and still burn the stubble. Hence codified into law.
The transport part pertains to subsidised Diesel which then is mostly used for fuelling their vehicles as a majority of pumps are electricity driven - again the electricity is subsidised and many farmers run power intensive small industries in their fields.
The main reform is to allow farmers to sell their crop to whomever they want to, not just at gov't owned markets. While 28+ territories have no problem with it, middlemen in Panjab, Haryana fear their influence - and thus their income - weakening as they cannot exploit the farmers much longer. Also, the state market officialdom loses their power to take ginormous bribes. Add in Khalistani seperatists (why Canadian minsters and pols are in India) and Opposition party leaders (who actually wrote the legislation in 2012 but backed out - lots of videos of the explaining the legislation), and there is a potent mix.
Mahindra is an Indian company. It acquired Ssangyong Motors in S Korea and incurred heavy losses and is trying to sell it off now.
AFAIK, it has no production in China but Chinese companies have been known to rip off mass market Indian Motorcycle brands before, to sell in Africa nd S America where they are popular.
Thank u Sir
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