Farmers of Maharashtra Continue Their Movement

The Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (All India Kisan Sabha) has taken a decision to begin a ‘Long March’ on foot of over 50,000 peasants for a distance of nearly 200 Km from Nashik to Mumbai. Both men and women are likely to take part in it in large numbers. It will begin from Nashik on March 6, 2018 and will culminate in Mumbai on March 12. Following which the peasants will indefinitely gherao the state assembly, which would be in session, until their demands are met.

Their demands include issues like farm loan waiver, remunerative prices and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, stringent implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), temple lands and pasture lands to be vested in the names of the tillers, increase in various pension schemes to poor peasants and agricultural workers, issues connected to the public distribution system, compensation for losses sustained by peasants due to pest attacks and hailstorms, an opposition to acquisition of peasants’ lands in the name of elitist projects like the bullet train and super highways, and a complete change in the river linking scheme proposed to be started in Nashik, Thane and Palghar districts, so as to ensure that tribal villages are not submerged and water is made available to these districts and to other drought-prone districts in Maharashtra.

All India Kisan Sabha has been in a constant movement in Maharashtra for past 2 years for these demands of the farmers.

It all started in March 2016, when the AIKS led an unprecedented one lakh strong peasant siege for two days and nights at the central CBS square in the heart of Nashik, which paralysed the city. This forced the Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP to invite the AIKS delegation to Mumbai in the midst of the assembly session to give some assurances.

Since the assurances remained unfulfilled, the AIKS led a 10,000-strong novel ‘Coffin March’ in Thane city in May, 2016 to focus on the issue of peasant suicides.

On the issues of drought, loan waiver and remunerative prices protest actions were organised at Aurangabad by AIKS in the Marathwada region in May 2016

In October 2016, over 50,000 Adivasi peasants, women, youth and students under the leadership of various organisations like AIKS, AARM, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI gheraoed the house of the state Adivasi Development Minister at Wada in Palghar district, for two days and nights, and got written assurances on issues like FRA and malnutrition-related deaths of Adivasi children.

In May, 2017 protests were organised by AIKS on the issues of drought, loan waiver and remunerative prices, this time at Khamgaon in the Vidarbha region.

A historic united Peasant Strike followed, that lasted for 11 days from June 1 to 11, 2017. A Coordination Committee was constituted after the strike.

On June 11, 2017 a group of five Ministers of the state government held talks with the Coordination Committee and they publicly agreed to give a complete loan waiver to the peasantry.

However, within a fortnight, it announced a loan waiver package of Rs 34,000 crore, which betrayed the promise of a complete loan waiver and imposed several onerous conditions which would leave a great majority of farmers out of the loan waiver orbit.

Massive joint agitations were held against this, including a united campaign tour of 15 large district conventions in July, 2017. They mobilised over 40,000 farmers and a statewide Chakka Jaam (Road Blockade) took place on August 14, 2017 in which over two lakh farmers blocked national and state highways at over 200 centres in 31 districts of the state.

All these farmers’ protests were held in a most peaceful manner. The farmers ‘Long March’ is yet another such peaceful attempt to reach out to the state government for their grievances.