For the second time in 12 months, thousands of farmers from Maharashtra, under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), are marching to Mumbai. They are on their way to reiterate their longstanding demands before the state legislative assembly and protest what they deem as a “betrayal” of peasants.
Kisan Long March-2 was flagged off from Nashik on Thursday, February 21. The march was initially supposed to begin on February 20, which is the fourth death anniversary of Communist ideologue Govind Pansare. However, the police allegedly stopped many farmers from reaching the starting point on Wednesday.
Why the march hit a snag
Feeling betrayed by the BJP government at the Centre and in , over 50,000 farmers embarked on the 180-km march on Wednesday. It hit a snag after overnight halts at various locations due to police suppression and a state delegation, which was alarmed by the response and arrived at Nashik, trying to pacify farmers and mitigate the agitation.
Farmers refused to call it off and resumed the march after their leaders late-night parleys regarding their demands with the government remained inconclusive, said on Thursday.
“There was a marathon meeting between the Minister and the till 1.30 a.m. today, but there were no concrete assurances from the government side. Hence, the Long March has resumed this morning,” said AIKS spokesperson PS Prasad.
The decision for the march was taken at the February 13 farmers’ convention in Ahmednagar. The organisers have warned against any attempts to crush their peaceful march.
Farmers should reach the state capital within nine days, said CPI(M)-backed AIKS. According to NDTV, the march will end on February 27 to coincide with the 88th death anniversary of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad as well as the budget session of the Legislature.
Salient among their demands are complete loan waiver, compensation, relief and insurance for crop damage in situations like drought, a higher minimum support price (MSP) for crops, land rights, irrigation facilities, and pension schemes for farmers among others.
Farmers are particularly incensed this time, because the state had promised to fulfil some of these demands after the Long March in March 2018.
Hollow promises that ended the first march
On March 6, 2018, around 35,000 farmers had led a 180-km march over six days to persuade the government to fulfil its long-deferred promises, during the Budget session at the Maharashtra assembly.
Fadnavis had met with a delegation of protesters at the Vidhan Bhavan, promising to concede to most demands. These included the implementation of MSP at the promised rates across the state and complete loan waivers.
The government had also placated the agitators then by assuring them that it would implement the Forest Act within two months and issue ration cards immediately.
The ministerial committee and AIKS leaders arrived at an agreement, resulting in the protest’s withdrawal.
Ostensibly, farmers still haven’t got what the government promised them.
What happened Wednesday night?
“A year has passed, but the state government is yet to its promises. Hence, the long march to protest the betrayal of farmers by the BJP-led governments,” AIKS member Ajit Navale told NDTV.
The state’s Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan met some AIKS representatives in Nashik on Wednesday night, where the latter reiterated these demands; Mahajan reportedly made similar promises.
“We held talks with the minister for over three hours. The government appeared positive to 80% of our demands. The minister said he would speak to the CM first,” AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said, according to a PTI report.
Dhawale said Mahajan informed AIKS representatives that the government would give assurances in writing. “The AIKS decided to go ahead with the march on February 21 till the government did as promised,” he added.
Dhawale said the police were also present during the meeting and agreed to not stop the farmers again.
Despite the first Kisan Long March being one of the most peaceful farmers’ rights movements India saw last year, of the second chapter condemned government’s blatant attempts to “crush” the peaceful march with brute force.
“For several hours, the police, without any reason, kept detaining groups of farmers joining the procession. They are filing cases against our office-bearers,” AIKS spokesperson P S Prasad told IANS.
Failed policies continue to fail our farmers
Last year, a massive rally of farmers from across India marched to Delhi to highlight the worsening agrarian crisis and agitate against oversight. Demonstrators at the rally openly the government’s anti-farmer and anti-poor policies; these are what likely led to BJP’s successive losses in the Assembly elections across three rural heartland Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Rushing to plug the gaps in its agricultural policies in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the NDA government announced an income support scheme worth Rs 6,000 a year for farmers in the Interim Budget 2019, earlier this month.
Under the programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support of Rs 6,000 a year in three equal installments of Rs 2,000 each, entailing an annual government expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore. The direct transfer of funds follows the model for Telanganas Rythu Bandhu scheme.
The government has also decided to increase the MSP by 1.5 times the production cost for all 22 crops.
Government panned left, right and centre
However, farmers, economists, the Opposition are unsure if BJPs amends will reap electoral fruits; they said these eleventh-hour measures are halfhearted, too little, and too late.
At Rs 500 per month, it will amount to less than 1/15th of an average households income. Per annum, its peanuts, said agricultural economist
Ashok Gulati. He added that if the government really wanted to make a difference through an income support scheme, it should double the amount by reducing food and fertiliser subsidies.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted after the Budget announcement: Dear NoMo, 5 years of your incompetence and arrogance has destroyed the lives of our farmers. Giving them ?17 a day is an insult to everything they stand and work for.
Farmers, too, are reluctant to settle for half-way solutions, it seems. Land across India are rising in protest of denial of their rights, demanding active protection of their economic interests. Not only that, the AIKS is also against the multi-billion dollar Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. Hundreds of farming families that thrive along the proposed route have moved court against illegal land acquisition.
As the Kisan Long March-2 makes its way towards India’s financial capital, all eyes are on the Fadnavis government; will it deliver on its promises and set an example for central and state governments alike?
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius