PM Modi withdraws three farm laws, urges protesters to return home

Three farm laws brought in last year to liberalise India’s agriculture markets, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, urging protesters to return to their home.

The constitutional process to withdraw the laws will be completed within a month. "Our government is committed to farmers' welfare, especially small farmers. We are committed to serve them fully. We brought in farm laws with good intentions," he said.

The three laws, introduced in September 2020, allowed farmers to directly sell their produce, outside government-regulated wholesale markets, to big buyers. The government says this will unshackle farmers and help them get better prices.

Since then, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on major highways to Delhi to oppose the laws, in India's longest-running farmer' protest against the government.

"Today I have come to tell you, the whole country, that we have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws," Modi said, acknowledging his government had been unable to win complete support for the reforms.