Agrarian Imagination Under Siege: India's Farmers Against the Global Agri-Cartel—Chronicling resistance to corporate enclosures

In 2020, India’s farmers took to the streets in one of the largest agrarian protests in history. Millions marched, blockaded highways and captured global headlines—forcing the government to repeal three controversial farm laws. But a decades-long project to reshape Indian agriculture is far from over.This three-part series of thematic papers begins by focusing on structural shifts in Indian agriculture and the farmers’ protests of 2020–21. The first instalment was written prior to and during this historic movement—a struggle that gained worldwide media coverage. Yet the repeal of the farm laws was little more than a tactical manoeuvre, timed ahead of state elections in key rural heartlands in 2022. The powerful global interests behind these laws did not disappear; they have long pursued an agenda to displace India’s prevailing agri-food system. The laws might have been struck down, but the goal—and the underlying framework—to capture and radically restructure the sector remains. In 2026, the farmers’ struggle is far from over.While Part 1 analyses the policy shifts that ignited the 2020–21 protests, the second instalment—written in 2023–24—examines the sophisticated ‘stealth’ policies that emerged after the tactical repeal. It documents how global interests pivoted toward a fragmented, digitalised approach to agrarian restructuring. Key topics include the 'digital capture' of agriculture through MoUs with corporations like Amazon and Bayer, the use of mutagenesis to bypass GMO regulations and the ongoing struggle for food sovereignty amid increasing political centralisation and corporate consolidation.The third and final instalment rounds off the series by examining the situation as of January 2026 and new developments that could spell the death knell for many of India’s farmers.For many outside India, the repeal of the three farm laws in 2021 might have seemed like a decisive victory. However, more than four years on, the struggle continues—more urgent and complex than ever. Farmers’ demands for sovereignty, justice, fair prices and ecological sustainability remain unaddressed, while new mechanisms of control—digital capture, corporate consolidation and regulatory manipulation—threaten to reshape Indian agriculture from the ground up.