A ‘Khet Bachao Kisan Bachao’ (save farms, save farmers) yatra, which will start on July 11 from Nindar village, near here, will highlight agricultural distress and the BJP government's “indifference” to the plight of farmers who are denied remunerative prices for their crops, vegetables and dairy products, while their land is acquired without their consent.
The farmers of Nindar had made headlines in October last year when they dug pits and trenches and buried themselves waist-deep in the mud for a month to protest against acquisition of their land for a housing project. The unusual demonstration, barely 20 km from Jaipur, had forced the State government to hold talks with the peasants, though the issue has not yet been fully resolved.
The yatra’s convenor Nagendra Singh Shekhawat said here on Monday that the march was aimed at bringing unity among the farmers and giving them a platform where they could voice their grievances and raise demands. “Despite toiling for several months, farmers are unable to get even the input costs for their produce. On the other hand, the government is simply not concerned.”
‘No mass movement’
Addressing a press conference, Dr. Shekhawat said the farmers’ agitations in the past had not succeeded mostly because they were restricted to a single village panchayat or tehsil and the farmers living elsewhere could not join them due to lack of awareness. The yatra will cover 2,500 villages of Jaipur district in one and a half months.
The yatra will be followed by a massive ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’, which will raise the issues of farmers being subjected to repressive measures which have deprived them of a decent livelihood and land rights. While affirming that the yatra had no connection with the coming State Assembly elections, Dr. Shekhawat said Rajasthan had not witnessed any major farmers’ agitation during the last three decades because of lack of networking of the rural populace.
The demands to be raised during the yatra will include right prices for milk and farm produce, rehabilitation of farmers before acquisition of land, immediate halt to land acquisition in 20 villages of Bara Padampura for a greenfield airport.