Washing machines and libraries: What life is like in Indian farmers protest camps on Delhi's outskirts

 New Delhi, India On a key highway into India's capital, men are doing their laundry in washing machines set up under a makeshift tent.

Just three months ago, this six-lane expressway was a busy thoroughfare for commuters and large trucks bringing supplies into New Delhi. Now, the traffic has been replaced by an almost 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) stretch of supply stores, a medical department, and a library -- all part of a colorful, bustling hamlet of tents that's been home to thousands of farmers for months.

In November, farmers infuriated by new agricultural reforms drove in tractor conveys from around India to set up multiple blockades at the city's borders.

This camp at Ghazipur on the border between Delhi and the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh is one of three major temporary settlements on the outskirts of the capital. Almost everyone here is from neighboring Uttar Pradesh, but farmers at other camps have come from states including Haryana and Punjab -- the latter is known as the "breadbasket of India" due to its large food production industry.

Wherever they are from, all have just one aim: to get the three new farming laws passed in September last year repealed. Farmers say the laws will hurt their income and devastate their livelihoods, but the government says they are needed to modernize the country's agricultural industry. That dispute has galvanized some of the biggest protests seen since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014.

Around 10,000 people -- mainly men, both young and old -- are stationed at Ghazipur alone, according to camp leaders, although the number fluctuates from day-to-day as farmers split their time between their homes and the camp. Many have family members minding their farms, allowing them to stay in the capital for long stretches.

The farmers face challenges -- the cold winter temperatures, clashes with police and security forces, and restrictions on their internet access, among others. Despite that, farmers say they have no plans to leave until the government overturns the laws.

A makeshift town

Here at Ghazipur, the camp hums along like a well-oiled machine.

By night, the farmers who choose to stay asleep in brightly colored tents pitched on the road, or on mattresses underneath their tractors (and in hundreds of vans and trucks). By day, many help run the camp.

All their basic needs are catered for. There are portable toilets -- although the stench makes it unpleasant to get too close. There's also a supply store that has plastic crates of shampoo sachets and tissues -- these supplies, like all those in the camp, were donated either by farmers or supporters of the farmers' cause.

Water is brought in from nearby civic stations. Jagjeet Singh, a 26-year-old from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, uses his tractor to bring back 4,000 liter (1,057 gallons) tanks of water each day (he brings in about 10 to 12 such tanks a day) that can be used for drinking, bathing, and cleaning. Some men stand by the tank washing the grimy black mud from the wet road off their shoes and legs.