SHAMBHU,India
\nFarmers in India\u2019s northern Punjab state demanding higher prices for their crops from the national government are relying on young students to ensure the agitation\u2019s momentum does not fizzle out.
\nEighteen-year-old Simranjeet Singh Mathada is one of thousands of college students who have been waking up at 3 am for almost two weeks to help cook meals at community kitchens, fill tankers with potable water and load tractor trailers with supplies before heading to the protest site some 200 km (125 miles) from the capital, New Delhi. \u201cThe protests are now about safeguarding the country\u2019s agrarian economy and farmers of Punjab are determined to bring this reform at all costs,\u201d said Mathada.
\nProtester demands are centred around guaranteed floor prices which will allow Mathada\u2019s parents and millions of other farmers to sell their produce at fixed rates. Even as negotiations between farmer unions and government have been underway, protests have sometimes turned violent.
\nOn several occasions, scores of farmers have suffered injuries trying to force their way through concrete blocks and barbed wires installed by police to prevent them from marching on the capital.
\nSome police officials were also injured in these sporadic clashes.
\n\u201cOur determination to bring about the change helps face the police every day,\u201d said Mathada, who is studying for a degree in Arts.
\nMathada and his father have been using swimming goggles and a metal shield to protect themselves from thick clouds of smoke and tear gas shells lobbed via drones by the police.
\n\u201cIt has been a shocking experience to see how the police can use force to stop farmers from marching towards Delhi…it has shown me how democracy can fade so quickly,\u201d said Mathada.
\nBefore the protests, Mathada helped his family cultivate crops on their ancestral land and manage a hardware shop.
\n\u201cFor now, the main occupation is to make sure Modi government accepts our demands,\u201d he said, adding that attending college lectures has become secondary for him and some of his classmates.
\nThe protests come just months before elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s party is seeking a third consecutive term.
\nLast week, Modi said his government is committed to the welfare of farmers and is on a mission to make them entrepreneurs and exporters.
\nMathada will be eligible to vote for the first time but is having doubts.
\n\u201cI think about democracy and feel a bit disillusioned; I may not even cast my vote this time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHAMBHU,India Farmers in India\u2019s northern Punjab state demanding higher prices for their crops from the national government are relying on young students to ensure the agitation\u2019s momentum does not fizzle out. Eighteen-year-old Simranjeet Singh Mathada is one of thousands of college students who have been waking up at 3 am for almost two weeks to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-389625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n