Farmers' protest: 53.6% Indians support new farm laws, 30.6% oppose them, finds News18 Network survey

A majority of Indians support the implementation of the Centre's three new laws and believe that the agitation by farmers should be called off, according to a survey conducted by the News18 Network.

The survey found that 53.6 percent of the respondents support the farm laws brought in this year. Further, 56.59 percent of the people said that it was time for the farmers to call off their protest. On the other hand, 30.6 percent do not support the new laws, while 15.8 percent said that they are not sure.

The survey by News18 Network was conducted across 22 states with more than 2,400 respondents in total.

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While over half of the respondents supported the new laws, a smaller percentage of them — 48.71 percent — were found to believe that the ongoing protests are politically motivated. On the other hand, 32.59 percent said they are not politically motivated, while 18.70 percent of the respondents said that they are unsure of this.

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Data from the survey showed that support for the new legislations was strong in most agrarian states, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. However, support for the new laws was comparatively less in Punjab.

The news laws allow farmers to sell their produce outside mandis regulated by Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs). They also remove stock limits for agricultural produce and provide a framework for contract farming. However, the protesting farmers fear that the laws may eventually lead to the dismantling of the MSP and will create large monopolies.

Following are some other key findings of the survey:

- The protesting farmers 'should not insist on repeal' of the farm reform laws, say 52.69 percent of the respondents.

- Farmers can get better prices under the new farm reform laws, believe 60.90 percent of the respondents.

- The government's offer of a written assurance that MSP would continue finds support among 53.94 percent of the people who took the survey.

-The demand for withdrawal of the ordinance banning stubble burning is unjustified, say 66.71 percent of the respondents.

The survey's findings come even as protests against the new farm laws continue in various parts of the country, particularly in Delhi. Protesting farmers on Monday began their day-long 'relay' hunger strike on a chilly Monday morning at all sites of protest on Delhi''s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Thousands of agriculturists, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the laws for the last over four weeks at various border points of Delhi and demanding that the legislations be repealed.

With inputs from PTI