FARMERS from across Maharashtra held a conclave in Jalgaon district on Tuesday and decided to resume their agitation with statewide protests against the government on October 20, the third day of Diwali. “We have unanimously decided today that farmers from across the state will hold rallies in each taluka in the state on October 20 which is Diwali Balipratipada. We will demand that cases of cheating, murder and abetment of suicide cases should be filed against this government that has claimed so many farmers’ lives,” Dr Ajit Nawle, convenor of the coordination committee of the agitating farmers, said.

Tuesday’s meeting saw hundreds of farmers attend the gathering that was addressed by leaders like independent MLA Bacchu Kadu and social activists like Baba Adhav. Farmers in Maharashtra have been agitating for the past four months, seeking fundamental changes in the functioning of the agriculture sector as well as over a loan waiver. With these demands, farmers had first gone on a strike in the state on June 11 for a period of 11 days.

The initial agitation had forced the state government to come out with a loan waiver scheme. To placate farmers, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had declared that the government’s farm loan waiver scheme would benefit 89 lakh farmers in the state which would cost Rs 34,022 crore. The government had limited its waiver to Rs 1.5 lakh per farmer, a limit that is being opposed by farmers. The agitating group is also seeking Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agriculture produce.

However, two months after calling off the agitation, the farmers had decided to restart their agitation as they felt that their initial demand of complete loan waiver has not been met. The agitating group has also questioned the utility and impact of the Maharashtra government loan waiver stating that it has not helped all farmers in the state.

The second phase of the agitation had gone on for two days and had managed to gain some traction in rural Maharashtra as farmers came out on the streets seeking complete loan waiver. They had held “Chakka Jam” to stop the flow of vehicles on state and national highways and also held protests to stop ministers from unfurling flags in various parts of the state during the Independence Day celebrations. However, the agitation was then discontinued.

The government has announced that loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh of individual farmers, irrespective of the size of their landholding, would be waived. Auditors had been deployed across 355 talukas to scrutinise and match the loan amount in bank accounts with that applied online by the farmers. Till last week, the total number of families who had sought the loan waiver was 57.68 lakh.

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