More than 180 farmer groups have planned to march to New Delhi on November 29 and 30 to demand a special 21-day session of Parliament to discuss the crisis of the agrarian sector.
The All India Kisan Struggle Coordination Committee will be mobilising farmers from across the country for this Kisan Mukti March. The committee is collecting signatures from the public for a petition to the President to demand the special session. The petition calls for the passage of two key Bills during the special session.
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The Bills are: the Farmer’s Freedom from Indebtedness Bill 2018 and the Farmer’s Right to Guaranteed Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, which have already been placed before Parliament. On November 29, farmers are scheduled to gather at four locations on the outskirts of Delhi, from where they will march into the capital.
From Maharashtra, the All India Kisan Sabha has been mobilising farmers for the march. In March, the Kisan Sabha had organised a long march from Nashik to Mumbai to press for community forest rights for tribals and an extension of the state’s loan waiver. The Kisan Sabha has focused on the ongoing drought across several parts of the country which had led to distress among farmers.
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Ajit Navale, general secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the Kisan Sabha, said after the Centre changed the parameters, several tehsils in Maharashtra were deprived of the drought concessions. The Kisan Sabha has demand implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, right prices for farm produces, waiver of power bills of farmers and compensation.
