On February 12, as part of the All-India General Strike, 600,000 workers downed tools and almost 100,000 participated in street actions in South India’s largest state, Karnataka, whose government, ruled by the main bourgeois opposition in the center, is rushing to implement anti-labor laws legislated by the BJP.

A united front of farmers launched a nationwide movement demanding the removal of the minister who oversaw the finalization of the deal, calling him a liar and a traitor who surrendered the interests of millions.

Rejecting the government’s claims of development, farmers successfully protested against an ethanol plant over its potential impact on ground water depletion and regional environment.

Farmers have accused the administration of dismissing their concerns about the plant’s possible impact on the local environment and scarce water resources in the arid region.

Incessant and unprecedented rains in the last month have caused havoc in the region with hundreds killed, millions displaced, standing crops destroyed, and cities in chaos.

In comparison to their counterparts in the US and Europe, Indian farmers get very little to no support from the government assuring profitability of their labor which makes them highly dependent on protection from foreign competition

Farmers claim that in the context of the Indian government’s failure to build competitiveness in the domestic agricultural sector with supportive policies, such agreements may facilitate new forms of colonialism.

Under the cover of industrial development, the Karnataka state government is forcibly acquiring thousands of fertile acres of farmland for real estate profiteering, farmer leader Yashavantha told Peoples Dispatch.

Major farmer’s groups have announced they will participate in the upcoming July 9 national strike call made by the central trade unions against the government’s anti-worker policies.

The ultra-right-wing government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for corporate entry into Indian agriculture, despite opposition from the majority of Indian farmers.

Agricultural workers in India have been facing the onslaught of neoliberal economic policies and are demanding economic protections.

In recent months farmers have intensified their struggle against the central government and its policies which favor corporations over the millions of small farmers in India.