The Maharashtra government said it would meet all the demands of the protesting farmers and gave firm assurances of compensation.
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Maharashtra government placated farmers of the Kisan Long March, who had been on the road protesting for a week, by giving a written assurance that the state will meet a majority of their demands in a time-bound manner.
Thousands of farmers across the state joined a protest march from Nashik to Mumbai under the leadership of the Left-leaning All India Kisan Sabha, covering the distance by foot.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had a two-hour-long meeting with leaders of the protest along with a six-member ministerial committee comprising Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan who is also guardian minister for Nashik. Shiv Sena Minister Eknath Shinde and senior opposition leaders were also present at the meeting.
After the meeting, Fadnavis told media persons, “We agreed to look at almost all their demands and work towards implementation positively. For the farm loan waiver, we have appointed a committee to look into any hurdles in the implementation of the waiver. We also informed the farmers’ leaders that the government is proactively working towards bringing in a fair minimum support price. The government has arranged for transport for the convenience of the farmers to travel back to their home towns.”
The demands and promises
The main demands of the farmers included proper execution of the state’s promised farm loan waiver; the implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee for farmers, which included the prevention of prime agricultural land’s diversion to the corporate sector for non-agricultural use; and the transfer of forest land to the tribals who have cultivated it for years.
Ajit Nawale, one of the leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha, said, “The government has agreed to make very important changes in the loan waiver scheme. Until now only farmers with loans up to 30 June 2016 were eligible for the waiver. The government has agreed to extend this to June 2017.”
He added, earlier, farmers with loans dating before 2009 were not being given benefit of the scheme with the intention that the loan waiver of the previous government would have helped them. “But there were many who did not qualify for a loan waiver in 2008 due to a condition about the size of landholdings. The government has agreed to relax the 2009 deadline in such cases,” Nawale said.
The government has promised to take decisions on pending cases of titles of lands of tribal tillers under the Forest Rights Act in six months, and renew expired ration cards in tribal areas within three months.
Similarly, the government also gave firm assurances for compensating farmers whose cotton crop was ravaged by the pink bollworm.
Farmers started the march last Tuesday with the intention of concluding it at Vidhan Bhavan, where the state’s budget session is underway. When they reached Mumbai Sunday, Mahajan met them with an assurance that the government would hold discussions on their demands.
In order to avoid inconvenience to locals on their weekday commute, especially Class 10 and 12 students whose board exams are underway, the protesters ditched the original plan to halt at Somaiya Grounds, Sion, in central Mumbai, and continued their walk towards Azad Maidan in south Mumbai Sunday night.
Cornered by the stir
Earlier on Monday, the state government found itself cornered on the march, with members of the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) visiting the protesting farmers. The opposition raised the issue in the house Monday, while the BJP’s bitter ally Shiv Sena slammed the government in an editorial in Saamana.
“The government has rubbed salt into the wounds of the poor distressed by making false promises in its budget. One Dhule farmer, Dharma Patil, came to Mumbai’s Mantralaya and committed suicide,” the editorial read.
“Now, thousands of Dharma Patils have made their way towards Mumbai raising slogans of ‘jai kisan’. Their anger and frustration will definitely turn the government into ashes,” it added.
“Support from across political parties,” Dhawale said, “has definitely helped in creating pressure on the government to act.”
Heart rending. One feature was exceptional in the Long March, viz, many tribals who were cultivating small pieces of forest land were asking that it be formally transferred in their names. For the rest, they reflected the hard times farmers all over the country are facing. This will be an important issue in all the elections leading up to the Lok Sabha election.