Indian farmers are on the march again. And this time they have gone all the way to New Delhi. Some 80,000 reportedly participated in the two-day rally to demand better deals in terms of debt waivers and higher crop prices. This is but the latest in a line of such protests staged this year. But given that the Modi government has entered the last days of its current tenure, the pressure this time around is firmly on. Indeed, the electorate of the sugar-producing region of Uttar Pradesh showed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the door in by-elections at the beginning of the summer. Thus far, the joint opposition appear to be standing with the famers. But, they, too have one eye on the ballot-box. The fact that financial dire straits has directly contributed to more than 300,000 farmers taking their own lives over the last two decades underscores the plight of the rural poor in the world’s largest democracy. And how the political leadership across the great divide have failed to uphold their part of the social contract between state and citizenry. There are plenty of lessons to be learned on this side of the border, too. Where agricultural land is being torn up to pave way for mega infrastructure projects; including road and rail networks and controversial dam construction. In fact, the ease with which so-called illegally built shops were razed at Karachi’s Empress market — with no time to retrieve stock — underscores just how governments tend to overlook the fundamental rights of the poor. In this case, the question of compensation and relocation ought to have been settled before the state robbed people of their livelihood. It was, sadly, the same story when it came to the commercial premises that lay in the path of the Orange Line Metro service in Lahore. It is hoped therefore that India’s farmers ‘exploit’ the looming polls. For this is an issue of viable returns. Not charity. * Published in Daily Times, December 2nd 2018.