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Agricultural law
In a sudden turn of events, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for repeal of all three controversial agriculture laws. Announced and constituted a committee of state and central representatives to make the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism more transparent and effective. Addressing the nation on the occasion of Gurpurab, Modi said the laws were brought in the best interest of the nation and were aimed at small and marginal farmers. The laws will be repealed in the upcoming session of Parliament. "I urge all the agitating farmers to go back to their families and villages and make a new beginning," Modi said in his address. Thousands of farmers have been camping on the borders of Delhi for the past one year to protest against the laws and demand a legal guarantee on the MSP.

The agitation, which began as sporadic protests in some villages of Punjab against three agricultural laws passed by Parliament in June 2020, gained steam over time and spread to other parts of the country, including neighboring Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The protests peaked when thousands of farmers from Punjab and elsewhere marched towards the capital Delhi late last year and decided to block the main entry points after being denied entry.

The Centro, on its part, held 11 rounds of discussions with the protesting farmers and even offered to amend some of the provisions without much success, as the protesters stuck to their main demand. The violent incidents of 26 January 2021, when hundreds of agitating farmers deviated from a certain tractor rally route and forcibly entered Delhi's main roads, leading to an altercation with the police, were seen as a major setback to the movement, But the eviction of forced Bharatiya Kisan Sangh leader Rakesh Tikait and his emotional outburst revived the agitators' falling morale.