Maharashtra Farmers Who Have Seen The Worst Of Agrarian Crisis, Deaths Are En Route To Delhi

As the ongoing farmers' protest in Delhi continues, hundreds more are on their way to the national capital from Maharashtra to join their brothers and sisters from Punjab and Haryana who are fighting against the three recent farm laws.

Thousands of farmers from Maharashtra on Monday left for Delhi from Nashik to join the ongoing agitation.

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The farmers, who started off in private vehicles, were led by leaders of the Kisan Sabha. A Kisan Sabha leader said farmers from 21 districts in Maharashtra are on their way to Delhi.

He said agriculturists from Maharashtra have been demanding waiving of 'inflated' power bills and implementation of the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Commiittee. Their other demands include an aid of Rs 50,000 per acre to those farmers whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains.

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Addressing the gathering of farmers, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha leaders Ashok Dhawale and Ajit Navale criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh over the agri laws.

Everyone against Farm Bills

They alleged that the new farm laws were enacted with the sole purpose of benefiting select corporates at the cost of farmers.

The farmers are expected to reach New Delhi, a distance of over 1,200 kms, on December 24 through Mumbai-Agra national highway, a leader said.

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The farmers from Maharashtra say that they know all too well about the agrarian crisis and debt trap, as the state has one of the highest numbers of farmer suicides in the country.

In March this year, it was revealed that Maharashtra recorded as many as 32,605 farmer suicides in the 19-year span between 2001 and 2019. This means the average number of cases per year was 1,716.

The highest number of farmer suicide cases in a single year was reported in 2015 - 3,273 when Maharashtra was reeling under a severe drought.

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Though the exact number of farmer suicides is unknown, in the first six months of 2020, 1,074 farmers had taken their lives in Maharashtra, which translates to 6 deaths on average every day.

The years of drought, especially in the Marathwada region which resulted in successive crop failures had pushed the farmers into a debt trap from which many failed to recover, and ended up taking their own lives.

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Even when they managed to harvest bumper crops the farmers could not benefit from it due to the drop in prices of their products like onion, garlic, tomatoes, and more which they ended up selling for throw-away prices.

In 2018, thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra had undertaken a long march to Mumbai, to press for their demands including loan waivers and the transfer of forest lands to villagers who have farmed there for decades.