Protesting Indian farmers release kites to entangle tear-gas drones

Warning: Attempt to read property "exclude_author" on false in /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/publishpress-authors/src/modules/author-boxes/author-boxes.php on line 871

• ‘We’ll have to sell our land’ says hurting Indian farmer marching to Delhi

NEW DELHI: Forty-two-year-old Balbir Singh should be tending to his farms, taking care of his teenage children and renovating his house, but he is preoccupied with thoughts of leaving all these behind as he contemplates a march to Delhi demanding higher prices for his produce.

Erdogan joined by Hamas in Egypt for hostage talks

A resident of Khaspur in Punjab, Singh lives about 12 kilometres from Shambhu — the border that divides the two northern states of Punjab and Haryana and is currently the flash point between thousands of protesting farmers and security forces that have been deployed to prevent them from marching to the Indian capital New Delhi.

Singh set out on a tractor to participate in the protests happening about 212 kilometres from New Delhi.

Traveling on trucks and trolleys loaded with food, bedding and other supplies, the farmers began their “Delhi Chalo” (Let’s go to Delhi) march on Tuesday (February 13) morning after talks with the government failed to yield a commitment on minimum prices for a range of crops.

Indian security forces fired tear gas at protesting farmers for a second day on Wednesday (February 14) to stop tens of thousands from marching to the capital New Delhi.

Firing in US city kills at least one, 21 wounded

Security forces also used drones to drop tear gas canisters on farmers who, in response, released kites into the sky in the hope of entangling the machines.

Multiple farmers’ unions said they would protest against the police action by blocking rail traffic at several places in Punjab for four hours on Thursday (February 15).