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India farmers’ protest: Supreme Court suggests government delay new laws; Sikh priest takes his own life
- Tens of thousands of Indian farmers have been protesting for three weeks against new agricultural reform laws
- A Sikh priest shot himself at a protest site, saying in a note he sacrificed his life to ‘express anger and pain against the government’s injustice’
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India’s Supreme Court on Thursday suggested that the government consider delaying implementation of new agricultural reform laws to restore a dialogue with tens of thousands of protesting farmers who say the legislation will drive down crop prices and devastate their earnings.
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Chief Justice S.A. Bobde also deferred a proposal by the court to set up a mediation panel until justices receive the government’s response and hear arguments from lawyers representing the protesting farmers, possibly next week.
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said he will get back to the court after discussing the matter with the government.
The farmers have been blocking half a dozen major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi for three weeks and say they will not leave until the government quashes what they call the “black laws” passed by Parliament in September.
This came as a 68-year-old Sikh priest allegedly shot and killed himself at a protest site on the outskirts of the capital. Police said they were investigating the circumstances.
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