Police arrest Gujarat, Maharashtra farmers, their leaders, seeking to proceed to Modi's birthplace Vadnagar to protest

By A Representative
The Gujarat police have prevented Aasood Yatra, a non-political farmers’ protest rally, led by maverick independent Maharashtra MLA Bacchu Kadu of Amravati, at the inter-state border immediately after it reached Navapur village, to proceed further into Gujarat.
The rally, which began in Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ hometown Nagpur on April 11, proposed to reach Vadnagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthplace in Gujarat, on April 21. In Vadnagar, around 1,000 farmers were to donate blood in order to send a message to Modi that they were willing to give their blood if he spared their lives.
The Nagpur to Vadnagar rally consisted of hundreds of whip wielding farmers of Vidarbha. According to Khedut Samaj – Gujarat (KSG) general secretary Sagar Rabari, “About 1,000 Maharashtra farmers, along with 400 Gujarat’s farmers who were about to join the rally, were detained on the border.”

Bacchu Kadu

“Along with farmers and independent MLA Kadu, KSG president Jayesh Patel, who was in South Gujarat town of Bardoli with his supporters to welcome the yatra, was also detained at Songardh”, said Rabari, adding, “Patel had organized lunch for the Maharashtra farmers as also a joint meeting. They have all been taken to the Ucchal police station.”The rally was allowed to pass through Sukhpur, the last village in Maharashtra along the border with Gujarat. In all some 50 groups, including Shetkari Sanghatana, took part of the rally, whose claimed objective was to draw the present government's “attention towards plight of farmers forced to live in abject poverty because of wrong agriculture policies.”

The rally was called Aasood, which in Marathi means whip. It idea taken from top Maharashtra social reformer Jyotiba Phule’s novel 'Shetkaricha Aasood', which is based on the theme that the farmer should use the whip not only on the bullocks he mends but also on the oppressors.
"Motivated by that thought, I mobilized farmers to rise for their rights of a respectable life," Kadu has been quoted as saying.
Even as starting off for the rally, Kadu said, "We will crack the whip against the government to remind Modi that he has failed to fulfill electoral promise of implementing MS Swaminathan Commission's recommendation on fixing crop prices to input costs and 50% of profit.”
He wondered, “We want curbs on exports of cotton, tur to go so that farmers can benefit. When there are no such restrictions on Baba Ramdev's products, why impose them on poor farmers?”

Passing through Wardha, the rally traversed through Yavatmal and Nanded. It covered Latur, Osmanabad, Solapur and later via Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Pune, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nashik, Dhule and Nandurbar, before it reached the border with Gujarat in order to proceed towards Vadnagar, via Ahmedabad.
Ahead of the rally, Kadu rejected any support from the Congress or the Nationalist Congress Party, saying, their Kisan Sangharsh Yatra was “nothing but a stunt”.
"These parties were in power when Swaminathan submitted his report in 2006. But they did not implement it. Now out of power they are shedding crocodile tears for farmers," Kadu reportedly said.
"The government without batting an eyelid gives 7th pay commission to its staff. But even after 3.5 lakh farmers committed suicide, they do not want to find permanent solution to agriculture crisis or invest adequately for the cause," he added.

Comments

Pradip Chatterjee. Convener, NPSSFW. said…

The farmers of India have been turned into easy prey of multinational companies by the proponents of Green Revolution. Traditional Indian agriculture that sustained through ages and was strong enough to withstand vagaries of nature was destroyed by making the farmers run after productivity driven by chemical agriculture that degraded our soil and pushed down the farmers' income with rising cost of inputs.Today farmers are committing suicide where agriculture is most productive.

Down with the agriculture policy of Government of India that sub-serves the interest of multinationals. Stop harassing the protesting farmers. We need revival of traditional / natural / organic farming. - Pradip Chatterjee.

April 20, 2017

Dipak Dholakia said…

What I liked the most in this action is the Maharashtra farmer leader Bacchu Kadu's firm no to Congress and NCP to get involved in the rally. All parties are the same. It is good to see that farmers are gathering that sort of courage. The solution of Farmers' problems is in the Farmers hands.
Despite the industrail progress, India's is basically an agrarian economy. You cannot neglect agriculture in India.

April 20, 2017

From algorithms to exploitation: New report exposes plight of India's gig workers

By Jag Jivan The recent report, "State of Finance in India Report 2024-25," released by a coalition including the Centre for Financial Accountability, Focus on the Global South, and other organizations, paints a stark picture of India's burgeoning digital economy, particularly highlighting the exploitation faced by gig workers on platform-based services.

Countrywide protest by gig workers puts spotlight on algorithmic exploitation

By A Representative A nationwide protest led largely by women gig and platform workers was held across several states on February 3, with the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) claiming the mobilisation as a success and a strong assertion of workers’ rights against what it described as widespread exploitation by digital platform companies. Demonstrations took place in Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and other states, covering major cities including New Delhi, Jaipur, Bengaluru and Mumbai, along with multiple districts across the country.

Over 40% of gig workers earn below ₹15,000 a month: Economic Survey

By A Representative The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, while reviewing the Economic Survey in Parliament on Tuesday, highlighted the rapid growth of gig and platform workers in India. According to the Survey, the number of gig workers has increased from 7.7 million to around 12 million, marking a growth of about 55 percent. Their share in the overall workforce is projected to rise from 2 percent to 6.7 percent, with gig workers expected to contribute approximately ₹2.35 lakh crore to the GDP by 2030. The Survey also noted that over 40 percent of gig workers earn less than ₹15,000 per month.

Budget 2026 focuses on pharma and medical tourism, overlooks public health needs: JSAI

By A Representative Jan Swasthya Abhiyan India (JSAI) has criticised the Union Budget 2026, stating that it overlooks core public health needs while prioritising the pharmaceutical industry, private healthcare, medical tourism, public-private partnerships, and exports related to AYUSH systems. In a press note issued from New Delhi, the public health network said that primary healthcare services and public health infrastructure continue to remain underfunded despite repeated policy assurances.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

When compassion turns lethal: Euthanasia and the fear of becoming a burden

By Deepika A 55-year-old acquaintance passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. Why so many people are dying relatively young is a question being raised in several forums, and that debate is best reserved for another day. This individual was kept on a ventilator for nearly five months, after which the doctors and the family finally decided to let go. The cost of keeping a person on life support for such extended periods is enormous. Yet families continue to spend vast sums even when the chances of survival are minimal. Life, we are told, is precious, and nature itself strives to protect and sustain it.

Death behind locked doors in East Kolkata: A fire that exposed systemic neglect

By Atanu Roy* It was Sunday at midnight. Around 30 migrant workers were in deep sleep after a hard day’s work. A devastating fire engulfed the godown where they were sleeping. There was no escape route for the workers, as the door was locked and no firefighting system was installed. Rules of the land were violated as usual. The fire continued for days, despite the sincere efforts of fire brigade personnel. The bodies were charred in the intense heat and were beyond identification, not fit for immediate forensic examination. As a result, nobody knows the exact death toll; estimates are hovering around 21 as of now.

When resistance became administrative: How I learned to stop romanticising the labour movement

By Rohit Chauhan* On my first day at a labour rights NGO, I was given a monthly sales target: sixty memberships. Not sixty workers to organise, not sixty conversations about exploitation, not sixty political discussions. Sixty conversions. I remember staring at the whiteboard, wondering whether I had mistakenly walked into a multi-level marketing office instead of a trade union. The language was corporate, the urgency managerial, and the tone unmistakably transactional. It was my formal introduction to a strange truth I would slowly learn: in contemporary India, even rebellion runs on performance metrics.

Report exposes human rights gaps in India's $36 billion garment export industry

By Jag Jivan A new report sheds light on the urgent human rights challenges within India’s vast textile and garment industry, as global regulations increasingly demand corporate accountability in supply chains. Titled “Beneath the Seams,” the study reveals that despite the sector employing over 45 million people, systemic issues of poverty wages, unfair purchasing practices, and the exclusion of workers from decision-making persist, leaving millions vulnerable.

Search This Blog