Farmers gather in Delhi for Kisan Long March today

PUNE: A large number of country's farmers have assembled in the national capital to participate in ‘Kisan March’ today and gherao Parliament on Friday to draw the attention of policymakers to the agrarian distress in the country.
About 180 farmers’ organisations have planned to gather about 100,000 farmers in Delhi, after having successfully organised the ‘Long March’ from Nashik to Mumbai in March.

Raju Shetty, member of Parliament and founder leader of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, arranged a special train to take farmers from western Maharashtra to Delhi for the protest.

Ajit Navale, Maharashtra state general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha said the changes made by the central government to declare a draught had rendered many talukas in Maharashtra ineligible to get relief for the losses caused by drought.

“We want the government to change the parameters used for declaring drought. We also want the government to waive all the outstanding agricultural loans of farmers. Their outstanding electricity bills should also be waived,” said Navale.

He said that farmers had not been able to get compensation even under the insurance scheme and neither had they been able to get the fair and remunerative price, which the government had claimed to increase to give 1.5 times the cost of production.

The agitating farmers’ organisations have demanded that a special session of Parliament be called to address the agrarian crisis in the country.

A release from Swaraj India said: "Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav will lead a farmers march from Bijwasan, Delhi (29 November) at 8 AM to reach Ramlila Maidan by 8pm. Some of the farmers have already arrived at our camp in Bijwasan where Swaraj India's Delhi Dehat Morcha is hosting them."

The AIKS has claimed that it has gathered 20,000 farmers from across the country to Delhi, of which 5000 are from Maharashtra.

The route map for the march is as follows:

• 8:00am March Starts from Bijwasan (Barat Ghar, Saini Mohalla, Near Golakdham Mandir)

• 10:00am Link road, NH8

• 11:00am Mahipalpur Flyover

• 2:00pm Himachal Sadan, Near Maurya Sheraton

• 4:00pm Talkatora Udyan