MUMBAI: Under pressure from the opposition and ally Shiv Sena the BJP-led Maharashtra government on Monday accepted the demands of agitating farmers including their right to till forest land as thousands of agriculturists converged here in a sea of red. In a major victory for the farmers who trekked 180 km from Nashik to here over six days under the blazing sun some even barefooted the state s Revenue Minister Chandrakant patil said all their demands are being accepted. He was addressing farmers camping at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai in the presence of CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Several parts of Maharashtra frequently face drought and suicides due to rural indebtedness. (Photo: AFP) Talking to reporters outside Vidhan Bhawan chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said We have agreed to set up a committee to hand over forest land used for farming to tribals and farmers. A meeting was held with representatives of farmers and adivasis at Vidhan Bhawan today. We have agreed to set up a committee to allot agricultural land to tribals provided they submit a proof of pre-2005 land cultivation. We have accepted almost all their demands Fadnavis said. Earlier in the day Fadnavis who was under intense pressure to concede the demands of farmers had said his government was sensitive and positive towards their issues. Around 90 to 95 per cent of the participants are poor tribals. They are fighting for forest land rights. They are landless and can t do farming. The government is sensitive and positive towards their demands he told the state Assembly during a discussion on the Long March of agriculturists. Several parts of Maharashtra frequently face drought and suicides due to rural indebtedness is common. A ministerial committee has been formed to discuss the demands with protesters. We will take a decision to resolve their issues in a time-bound manner he said. The Azad Maidan turned into a sea of red today as farmers carrying red flags descended there. The CPI(M)-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha led the protest where farmers demanded an unconditional loan waiver and transfer of forest land to tribal farmers who have been tilling it for years. The farmers were also agitating against non-implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendation for fixing the minimum support price at one-and-a-half times the cost of production and the Forest Rights Act CPI-M leader Ashok Dhawle said. The farmers were also demanding a change in the plan to link rivers in Nashik Thane and Palghar districts so as to ensure that tribal lands are not submerged and water from the scheme is made available to these areas and other drought-prone districts. They were also protesting against the state government s land acquisition for projects including high-speed railway and super highways. The opposition Congress NCP Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and also Shiv Sena which is part of the BJP-led ruling coalitions in the state and at the Centre had extended support to the farmers. MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray met the farmers yesterday. The Shiv Sena BJP s ruling alliance partner threw its weight behind the farmers saying that irrespective of their red flags the party would back them in getting their problems resolved. In November last year the state government announced a farm loan waiver terming it the biggest in Maharashtra s history . The Mumbai police had heightened security following apprehension of breach of peace during the agitation. As the farmers braved the sultry weather the city s famed dabbawalas known for delivering tiffins to lakhs of Mumbaikars with clockwork precision offered them food and water. Subhash Talekar the spokesperson of Mumbai Dabbawala Association said We thought about helping the farmers with food as they are our food-providers and have come from remote parts of the state. A jubilant Yechury described farmers as the new soldiers of India who can uproot governments if they do not accept their demands. \ Read this story in Marathi As a resolution appeared in sight following their gruelling six-day journey the farmers prepared to return home. The authorities announced that they would be ferried back to Nashik. The Central Railway has decided to run a special train from Mumbai to Bhusawal an official said.
Despite an increase in allocations for the agriculture and farm sectors in the Maharashtra Budget 2018-19 experts and farmers aren t impressed and have gone on to call it financial jugglery . State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had said the Budget was farm-centric and has special thrust on farming and food processing schemes. Farmer leaders points out that the benefits of the government scheme are not trickling down to them and the outlays don t match the outcome. Farmers march forward at night in order to avoid inconvenience to the public and students appearing for HSC and SSC exams. Since this government has taken over nearly 4 000 farmers have committed suicide points out Atul Deulgaonkar a Latur-based author and expert on Maharashtra s agriculture sector. The Economic Survey has painted a bleak picture while projecting a negative growth in the agriculture sector.
.story-content span .story-content p .story-content div color:#000!important;font-family: open sans Arial!important;font-size:15px!important ALSO READ Maharashtra farmers call off protest; Fadnavis bows to pressure: Highlights Maharashtra farmers across all crops have much to complain about March of distress: Implement report of Swaminathan Committee say farmers So near and yet so far span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 The farmers agitation in Maharashtra was called off on Monday evening after the state government conceded most for their demands and agreed to implement the conditions agreed upon in the next six months. A 12-member delegation representing farmers met a ministers committee in the afternoon. It was given a letter signed by the chief secretary in which the government agreed to address complaints and appeals under the Forest Act 2006 in the next two months and relax some of the conditions for loan-waiver eligibility. The government also agreed to issue ration cards to farmers in tribal areas immediately to help them prove their land claims. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the farmers that he will take up with the Centre the matter of minimum support price (MSP) at one-and-a-half times the cost of production as suggested by the Swaminathan committee. On Monday over 35 000 farmers from across Maharashtra converged on Azad Maidan in Mumbai. They had started from Nashik on March 6 and travelled over 180 km on foot. Their plan was to gherao the Assembly. Some of the other main demands were an unconditional farm loan waiver as some of them failed to qualify for any financial relief under the Maharashtra government s initiative last year and transfer of forest land to tribal farmers who have been tilling it for years. The protest march was orchestrated by the All-India Kisan Sabha which is affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Besides Opposition parties Shiv Sena a partner in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling coalition also supported the agitation. CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechuri with farmers take part in Kisan long march organised by All Indian Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at Azad Maidan in Mumbai Photo: PTI In the Union Budget for 2018-19 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed implementing the Swaminathan committee s recommendations. But there is uncertainty over the cost to determine the MSP. Last year the Maharashtra government announced a loan waiver for which 6 million farmers had applied. However the process has been delayed because of red tape. The Forest Act which came into force in 2006 led to farmers losing their rights over land on which they continued farming. Now the government has assured that their claims would be decided on in six months. Other demands include irrigation facilities and tweaks to land acquisition laws. The government has assured farmers this will be looked into. Fadnavis told the farmers that land acquisition for the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor and other major projects such as the bullet train would be through consent and a fair mechanism. As far as farm loan waiver was concerned three-fourths of the claims had already been met. Senior minister Chandrakant Patil said Chief Secretary Sumit Mallick will follow-up on all the schemes every two months. Experts said although all farmers in Maharashtra were not part of the rally the issues were region-agnostic because the state and Centre had been focusing more on consumers when prices rose sharply but tillers hardly received proper remuneration. Ajit Shah president Horticulture Exporters Association said: The government should focus on improving agriculture research and making it easily available to farmers. He added the government should promote farmers to come together form co-operatives and aggregate resources to improve produce.
Written by Shubhangi Khapre | Mumbai | Updated: March 13 2018 7:57 am Special trains were arranged to send the farmers back to their homes. (Express Photo: Prashant Nadkar) With a sea of agitating farmers swamping Mumbai and pressure mounting the BJP-led Maharashtra government Monday accepted almost all demands of the farmers including their right to till forest land and extension of farm loan waiver to those who had borrowed between 2001 and 2008. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis even before he met a delegation of the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) that led an estimated 40 000 farmers on a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai told the Vidhan Sabha that the state government was sensitive and positive to the demands of the farmers many of them tribals. The announcement that the agitation had ended was made after a three-hour meeting of the AIKS with Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhavan in the presence of Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and NCP leaders Dhananjay Munde and Ajit Pawar. Read | Farmers celebrate win: First time we have something on paper In April 2017 a few months before announcing a waiver expected to cost Rs 34 000 crore Fadnavis drew flak when he said he believed that loan waivers were not a sustainable solution for agricultural distress even if they were politically expedient. EXPLAINED |New edge to agrarian distress: Why demands are more than loan waiver But on Monday there was no mention from the government about essential infrastructure for sustainable agriculture. Instead the state government tweaked its farm loan waiver to include thousands who had been left out of its ambit owing to stringent conditions imposed earlier extended the waiver to loans outstanding since 2008 instead of 2009 quick resolution of bottlenecks in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act minimum support price for farm produce as recommended by the Swaminathan formula and the Nar-Par and Daman Ganga and Girnar river-linking projects to bring water to drought-prone areas in the state. Hundreds of protesting farmers from Nashik arrive in Thane late Saturday on their the way to Mumbai. (Express File Photo: Janak Rathod) The AIKS which pointed out that the state government did not reach out to their leaders during the first five days of the march when thousands of farmers including senior citizens and women were walking on the highway in blazing heat called it a historic struggle and a historic victory made possible by the outpouring of support that farmers received from people across the country. Also Read | A claim for dignity by Pratap Bhanu Mehta On the Forest Rights Act the implementation of which was a major demand of the farmers who comprised nearly 90 per cent landless tribals who till forest land the government consented to ease all hurdles within six months including resolution of pending appeals by farmers or gram sabhas. A special task force will be constituted to implement the decision in a time-bound manner the government said. The farmers at Azad Maidan on Monday. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar) The government also extended its loan waiver scheme to tribals with debts on agricultural loans taken between 2001 and 2008. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Shetkari Sanmaan Yojna or the loan waiver announced last year was limited to farmers with debts between 2009 and 2016. A committee was formed to expedite the process of identifying individual cases and providing relief. READ | Loan waiver no solution make farming viable: Swaminathan The government has agreed to enforce all the demands made by the AIKS. The state government will accord forest land rights to the tribals. It will be strictly implemented within six months Fadnavis said. Among issues raised during the discussion on loan waiver was the condition that a loan in the name of the farmer s wife was deemed ineligible for waiver even if the couple together had an outstanding loan less than the ceiling amount of Rs 150 000. To remove the anomaly the government said the waiver would be for up to Rs 1.5 lakh for each family unit of husband and wife irrespective of the land holding size. CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri along with farmers gathering at Azad Maidan on Monday. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar) High on the agenda of the protestors were recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission for higher remuneration. The government said The Minimum Support Price was the commitment of the state government. And the Centre has already made the announcement to give one and half times more than the MSP to farm produce to help farmers earn higher income. A decision was taken to set up a full fledged State Agriculture Price Committee to regulate the price mechanism and stop exploitation of farmers. The protesters had also listed in their charter of demands issues related to water conservation projects. All the 31 water conservation projects in the tribal region of North Maharashtra along with Nar-Par and Daman Ganga and Girnar river-linking projects were given consent. The project the government said had already been discussed with the Centre. More than 40 000 farmers from across Maharashtra covered an arduous 180-km long march to reach the capital city Mumbai on Sunday to stage a protest outside the state legislature against what they call the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government s failure to respond to prevailing farm distress. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar) Under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojna the government promised higher financial aid to tribals with serious health problems. Leaders of the AIKS who participated in the talks with the Chief Minister said they insisted at the outset of the meeting that the negotiations would end successfully only if they were given assurances in writing. We have had experiences with this government before and they were not good. We insisted on this and so the assurances were made to us in writing under the signature of the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra Dr Ashok Dhawale president of the AIKS said. Farmers long march moving from Mulund towards Mumbai. (Express photo by Deepak Joshi) At the end of the meeting the delegation asked that the agreement regarding the dozen demands it made be placed before the legislature to accord it some legal sanction. A battle has been won though the war will go on said Dhawale adding that the AIKS local units would hold the government to its promises and would act as a watchdog to ensure implementation on the ground. For all the latest India News download Indian Express App Tags: Devendra Fadnavis Maharashtra Maharashtra Farmer Agitation
ALSO READ Maharashtra farmers call off protest; Fadnavis bows to pressure: Highlights Maharashtra farmers call off protest after Fadnavis bows to their demands So near and yet so far 34k farmers to gherao Maha assembly Monday students may face traffic chaos Farmers demand total debt waiver remunerative crop prices span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 Most agricultural commodities produced in Maharashtra are trading at much lower prices than earlier and in many cases is not remunerative enough for its farmers currently on a public agitation for more favourable policies. The principal crops in the state are rice jowar bajra (both millets) wheat and various varieties of pulses. The state is also a major producer of oilseed groundnut sunflower soybean. Among the cash crops are cotton sugarcane and turmeric. Among vegetables onions. There has been some improvement in prices of oilseed and gram after the central government increased their import duties. However small and marginal farmers have generally not got much relief. The state s sugar production is estimated to increase from 4.2 million tonnes last year to 10.1 mt this year. However sugarcane payment arrears to farmers had risen to Rs 23.7 billion as on end-February from Rs 26.2 million last year at the same time according to official data. With sugar prices falling the situation will worsen. Onion is another commodity whose price falls when output rises. On Monday at the major Lasalgaon wholesale market near Nashik it traded at Rs 7.6 a kg; poor quality was Rs 3 akg. A few months earlier the price was Rs 35 a kg. The state s directorate of onion and garlic research has advised growers to store onions to only sell when the supply season starts drying from May onward. Maharashtra produces a fourth of the nation s output. Cotton is another major crop where Maharashtra is the country s second largest producer. Output is estimated to be lower than last year at 8.1 million bales of 170 kg each; last year s was 8.8 mn bales. The loss is due to pest attack; farmers say it has affected the genetically modified variety too. And though outout is down farmers complain of lower realisation here too. As for pulses prices have been under pressure for two years; import is blamed. Last September the central government restricted import of several varieties; import duty has been raised too for chana (chickpea). However the latter s price in the state s wholesale markets is still below the government-set Minimum Support Price.
.story-content span .story-content p .story-content div color:#000!important;font-family: open sans Arial!important;font-size:15px!important ALSO READ Pest attack lowers cotton yield in Maharashtra Cotton price improves on reports of crop damage Cotton spinners pin hopes on demand uptick to improve margins Govt puts GM mustard approval on hold Spinning mills margins to recover in Q3 on bumper cotton output span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 More than 30 000 farmers from all over Maharashtra on a long march sicnce March 5 from Nashik an agricultural powerhouse 170 km north of Mumbai will reach the state s legislative Assembly on Monday. Leaders in the protest rally allege their demands for clearing farmers balance sheets ensuring remunerative prices for crops and implementing the Forest Rights Act for the benefit of scheduled tribes have not been done entirely. An 8 per cent contraction in agriculture (worse the crop sub-sector contracted 14 per cent) according to the latest economic survey by the state worsens the situation. The western state received 84 per cent of the average rainfall during the June to October period in the 2017 season with regional variations. The deficit in the drought-prone Vidarbha region was above 20 per cent. On top of that increased pest attacks affected standing cotton crops according to the economic survey. The state witnessed record foodgrain and cotton production in 2016-17 registering 22 per cent growth in the agriculture sector followed by a contraction in the current year. The pattern resembles the one in 2013-14 and 2014-15 when agriculture sector growth of 12.3 per cent was followed by a contraction of 10.7 per cent in the latter year. The central government s resolution on doubling farmers incomes requires 10 per cent consistent growth in the agriculture sector of major agrarian states according to its own report. In addition leaders of the rally allege lending to the farm sector (both kharif and rabi) in the state has gone down from Rs 430 billion in 2016-17 to Rs 220 billion in 2017-18. Source: Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2017-18 Banks refrained from giving loans to farmers this season due to poor implementation of the loan waiver scheme. As a result farmers had little money to sow and cultivate Raju Shetti Member of Parliament and a farmer leader from southern Maharashtra who opted out of the National Democratic Alliance in the middle of its term told Business Standard. Of the Rs 340-billion loan waiver package announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in June 2017 only Rs 138 billion was disbursed till March 6 2017 according to the Budget. The scheme known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana has reached 3.6 million farmers against the intended 8.9 million. Minister of state for agriculture Sadabhau Khot did not confirm the numbers but attributed the potential shortfall to political vendetta by opposition parties which control most cooperative banks in the state. Maharashtra s loan waiver scheme has given the maximum return to the eligible farmer among all states that have waived loans. We have taken utmost care that nationalised banks lend to the farm sector Khot told Business Standard. Source: Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2017-18 This year in addition to a serious rain deficit in Vidarbha the cotton crop was subject to an unprecedented attack of the pink bollworm. The pest attacked irrigated cotton fields more harshly than the rain-fed ones and the genetically modified crop suffered more damage said Prashant Gawande a farmer leader from Akola district who is participating in the protest march. He said the GM variety had failed in its rationale of protecting the crop from pest attacks. Though the rally reportedly bears flags of the Communist Party of India many participating farmer leaders said no specific party was leading it. The state government issued a resolution on February 23 that promised compensation of Rs 13 500 per hectare to a maximum of 2 hectares to only those cotton and paddy farmers who have incurred more than 33 per cent of crop loss. This has irked a majority of the farmers since the GM variety adds to the cost of cultivation. Source: Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2017-18 The government might increase the scope of compensation possibly to all farmers to assuage the growing discontent according to sources. This is the second major farmer protest in two years. On the contrary another set of data does not paint such a gloomy picture. The crop is fetching around Rs 4 500 per quintal in mandis across Maharashtra above the minimum support price. Arrivals in state mandis from November till date is around 874 000 tonnes not very less than 969 000 tonnes during 2016-17 the bumper crop year. While production of cotton and tur (red gram or arhar) has almost halved compared to the previous year soyabean and paddy have declined 15-20 per cent according to the economic survey. Cotton is the most preferred kharif crop in Maharashtra. It was sown on 4.2 million hectares in 2017 almost a third of the total kharif crop area of 15 million hectares across the state. The state s economic survey 2017-18 puts cotton production at 6 million bales down from record 10.8 million bales in 2016-17 and the worst in a decade. The yield of cotton has fallen to 244 kilograms per hectare. However previous economic surveys put the yield of 2014-15 and 2015-16 the infamous drought years at 150 kilograms per hectare and cotton production at below 4 million bales worse than this year. The Maharashtra state budget has allocated around Rs 80 billion towards irrigation and Rs 15 billion to the Jalyukt Shivar (irrigated farmlands) scheme. State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantivar has proposed 25 per cent assistance to install grain segregator machines at state agriculture markets to separate fair average quality grains from below average ones. The state s overall debt situation worsened with accumulated debt rising from Rs 4 trillion to Rs 4.6 trillion. Salaries and interest payments now account for 57 per cent of the state s revenue expenditure.
ALSO READ Sensex crashes 800 points; Nifty slips below 10 800 Gitanjali Gems falls 5 pc hits fresh 52-week low Khadse welcome to join Congress: Ashok Chavan Former Maharashtra Minister Madhukarrao Kimmatkar no more PAC flags malnourishment among children in Mumbai Maharashtra span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 For the second time in 10 months Maharashtra farmers cracked the whip on the government to turn spotlight on the grave agrarian crises gripping the state by completing a long march to the Legislature here on Monday. More than an estimated 35 000 peasants -- men women youth and even seniors -- with lines of worry collectively writ on their weary faces determinedly completed the 180-km long march over six days. Organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) the farmers wing of Communist Party of India-Marxist the farmers sporting red caps red flags beating drums and cymbals and the tribal blowing instrument -- tarpa marched in disciplined unity as the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena braced itself for the political fallout of the peasant power. In a considerate gesture the farmers abandoned their night s rest to march from the Somaiya Grounds Vidyavihar starting 2 a.m. (Monday) to reach the historic Azad Maidan at dawn to avoid inconveniencing students appearing for the ongoing board examinations. Wary of the potential ramifications as the farmers prepared to lay seige on the Maharashtra Legislature on Monday afternoon the state government hurriedly formed a high-powered six-member Ministerial Committee to discuss all issues with the peasants. Farmers leader Ajit Nawale said that among the major demands are implementation of the farm loans waiver announced in June 2017 (after farmers in the state went on a strike ) then make the farmers completely debt-free besides other demands. Considering the tremendous response we have evoked from across the state the government cannot dismiss us lightly. If it continues to dilly-dally on the farm loans waiver or try to take us for a ride it will face the consequences Nawale told reporters late on Sunday. AIKS Maharashtra President Ashok Dhavale pointed out that the crisis in the http://n4g.com/user/score/kkdigital farmlands is very severe with over 400 000 farmers committing suicides in the past 25 years . Agrarian distress is linked to malnutrition... The farming community is feeling betrayed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre Dhavale said. Congress leaders including state chief Ashok Chavan Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Prithviraj Chavan and the Nationalist Congress Party s President Sharad Pawar and Dhananjay Munde and Jitendra Awhad declared support to the marchers. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Yuva Sena President Aditya Uddhav Thackeray turned up personally to welcome the farmers on Sunday evening. Many of the marchers braving the early summer heat were seen reaching Mumbai with red and swollen eyes broken or temporarily mended footwear dusty torn clothes having barely managed a square meal or a proper bath during the past week as they started in Nashik on Wednesday. However they hoped that justice might be finally done to their cause. --IANS qn/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
