Hundreds Vidarbha Farm Widows to march New Delhi –Massive Protest Against PM apathy toward Agrarian crisis

Hundreds Vidarbha Farm Widows to march New Delhi –Massive Protest  Against  PM apathy toward Agrarian crisis

Pandharkawda(Yavatmal ) -1st may 2015

when whole Maharashtra is celebrating it's 55TH formation-day 1st May .hundreds of vidarbha farm widows and drought hit farmers joined protest to draw Indian Govt. attention towards ongoing farmers suicides and complete neglect of central and state toward vidarbha where more than 11,00 thousand farmers committed suicide since 2005 at Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district which is epicenter of farmers suicides and now as Govt. has turned blind eye toward major demand of farm loan waiver and higher MSP for cotton ,it is unanimously resolved that hundreds  of farm widows under leadership of KBC fame farm widow  Aprana Malikar wil march to Delhi and sit on infinite fast before PMO to get the demand fulfilled as in   

vidarbha 512 farmers committing suicide this year in Vidarbha alone as crop failures and mounting debts forced them to end their lives,” says Kishor Tiwari, spokesperson for a farmers’ organisation, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS).

Now farm widows have decided to take issue of agrarian crisis which has been unattended and  prevalent during the Congress-led UPA government remained unchanged despite the BJP making sky-high promises exactly a year back when Modi visited Vidarbha.

vidarbha farm widows association secretary aparna malikar was very critical over apathy of BJP ruled govt. as for  wooing the farmers in April-end 2014, Modi had promised they would get minimum support price (MSP) with 50 per cent profit above cost of cultivation if the BJP came to power. Now that the BJP is in government, the MSP announced earlier is nowhere in sight,” she says. While speaking on the credit policy, Modi had even assured that loans would be given to farmers at their doorstep “but now banks are coming to the farmers’ doorstep to recover their dues,” she says.

“The farmers are hoping that Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra in 45 degree Celsius summer heat to meet distressed farmers is a wake-up call to Modi and as well as Maharashtra Chief Minister Narendra Fadnavis who is on a tour of Israel, to study agricultural development there, we will march Delhi to get answers from PM ” farm widow Bharti Pawar infromed large gathering .

Farm activist Kishor Tiwari of VJAS highlighted fact that  the situation in India was quite different compared to developed countries like the USA, where cultivation is mechanised and irrigation is not a problem. In India, just 35 per cent of the total agricultural land is irrigated while the rest is rain-fed. Subsidies to farmers in the USA are around 30 per cent of cultivation cost, which makes a big difference in the international market and , he  accused both the Congress and BJP of “promoting globalisation” with the former doling out “packages that were a drop in the ocean.” Tiwari says the farmers appreciate Rahul has coming out to listen to them “but he has visited Vidarbha even during the Congress rule and nothing good happened to the farmers.”

VJAS has urged civil society to help farm widows to take them vidarbha agrarian crisis  and farmer suicides issue at Delhi so that innocent genocide due to wrong policies of NDA Govt. to bring national and international radar