Mumbai: Nearly 20,000 adivasis and farmers are expected to march from Thane to Azad Maidan on November 21 to make their demands heard on the non-waiver of loans and the implementation of the Forests Rights Act (FRA), among others. Farmers from North Maharashtra, Vidarbha, three districts of Marathwada, Pune and Ahmednagar will be participating in the march.
For decades, the agrarian sector in India has been reeling under the disdain and lack of foresight displayed by successive governments, said Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is organising the march. “The sole sufferers of such indecision are farmers and adivasis,” she said, at a press conference in the city on Wednesday. Ms. Shinde called on Mumbaikars to support the protestors. “It is a call for Mumbai to stand with fellow citizens from the villages and forests and recognise that if everyone does not fight to secure the rights of others, every Indian citizen will soon be in a state of deprivation and distress, brought upon us by this draconian government that is mired in corruption and inefficiency and is clearly fawning to vested capitalist interests that threaten small, marginal farmers and adivasis.”
The farmers want a time-bound implementation of the FRA and an end to displacement caused by dams; a transfer of possession of land to the actual cultivators; waiver of loans and implementation of minimum support price [the minimum price offered by the government before crops are harvested]; implementation of various State government schemes. They also seek compensation of ₹40,000 per acre for hailstorm-affected farmers.
Ms. Shinde said all options have been exhausted and the march is the last resort. She said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had promised a meeting to discuss farmers’ grievances but even after sending him 20,000 letters there has been no reply. “The Sangharsh Morcha has met the tribal commissioner five times and has had almost regular meetings with the district collector on the issue but nothing has come of it,” she said. The Morcha has also approached the forest secretary, tribal secretary and guardian minister, to no avail. The farmers and adivasis are ready to protest for as long as it takes to get the government to listen to them, said Ms. Shinde.
