-Newsclick.in An explosive farming crisis and sustained protests over the past two years have converged in the historic march by 50,000 farmers to Mumbai. Over the past six days, India has slowly woken up to farmers’ distress – and their resistance. On 6 March, about 20,000 farmers from various parts of the state mobilized by the CPI (M) affiliated All India Kisan Sabha gathered at Nashik in north-western Maharashtra to begin a...
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Blister that should make India choke on its coffee
-The Telegraph Mumbai: The blistered foot rattled India's financial capital so badly that it had to sit up and engage with those it had been taking for granted for so long. The BJP-led government in Maharashtra has "accepted" the demands of farmers hours after 35,000 of them, many barefooted, marched on Mumbai, braving the blazing sun for nearly a week and walking 180km. The farmers then decided to end their agitation. The key...
More »New edge to agrarian distress: Why demands are more than loan waiver -Kavitha Iyer
-The Indian Express Large numbers of the tribals who have gathered in the Mumbai are not seeking a loan waiver, but the implementation of the vision envisaged in Forest Rights Act, a legislation enacted by Parliament in 2006. The nearly 40,000 sunburnt and dusty men and women waiting patiently in an open ground in Mumbai on Sunday night tell the story of the continuing gloom in Maharashtra’s farmLands more succinctly than the...
More »Loan waiver no solution, make farming viable: Swaminathan -Ravish Tiwari
-The Indian Express M S Swaminathan, author of the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) which is better known as his panel, does not see farm loan waiver as a solution to challenges being faced by farmers. From Mandsaur to Mumbai, farmer agitations have repeatedly invoked recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission to press their demands, including waiver of loans. Political leadership across states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab...
More »Why Tens of Thousands of Maharashtra?s Farmers Are Marching Their Way to Mumbai -Parth MN
-TheWire.in Protesting farmers are planning to encircle the assembly and press for demands they feel the government has betrayed them on: crop prices, a loan waiver, forest rights, procurement and more. Shankar Waghere flings his plastic bag on the ground and hunches over on his wooden cane to gather his breath. Then he kneels down, panting, and closes his eyes. They remain shut for the next 15 minutes. It’s been a lot...
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