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22 November 2018•Update: 23 November 2018
By Shuriah Niazi
NEW DELHI, India
Thousands of Indian farmers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra marched to the state capital Mumbai on Thursday, demanding loan waivers and land ownership.
The farmers began march from different parts of the state on Tuesday and assembled at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Rajendra Singh, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner is also among the protesters. This is the third time this year when the farmers took to the streets in Maharashtra state.
Thousands of farmers under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha had carried out a similar protest in March this year to press for their demands.
Lok Sangharsh Morcha, an organization of farmers, has warned the state government that they will not leave the ground until their demands are met.
“We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfill our long-standing demands, but the response has been lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation,” Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, told reporters in Mumbai.
Girish Mahajan, minister for water resources, has reached the venue to meet the protesting farmers. Chief Minister of the state Devendra Fadnavis will also be meeting a delegation of farmers later on Thursday.
According to The Times of India, a local daily, 2,917 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra alone in 2017.
The daily said in a report about 60 percent of the cases of farmers ending their own life were reported after the government announced a farm loan waiver scheme by June 2019.
