The farmers who help keep democracy alive

PARI’s first podcast features the voices of Maharashtra’s farmers, who marched peacefully from Nashik to Mumbai in March 2018. They speak of their struggles and hopes – and what they demand of the state

June 29, 2018 | Samyukta Shastri and Vishaka George

A long march of the dispossessed to Delhi

Imagine a democratic protest where a million farmers, labourers and others march to the capital and compel discussion of the exploding crisis of the countryside in a special three-week session of Parliament

June 22, 2018 | P. Sainath

The unending struggle of Kamli Bahota
and • Palghar, Maharashtra

The unending struggle of Kamli Bahota

Now touching 70 years, she still energetically marches many miles at farmers’ rallies. She was at the Long March two months ago, at a May 3 rally in Dahanu, and is ready to walk to Delhi if her demands are not met

May 14, 2018 | Siddharth Adelkar

‘Forest officials cut and take away our crop’

On May 3, to follow-up on the landmark Long March from Nashik to Mumbai, 35,000 Adivasi farmers gathered in Dahanu for a victory rally, signalling their determination to continue the fight for their demands

May 10, 2018 | Siddharth Adelkar

The Kisan Long March in Maharashtra


The Kisan Long March in Maharashtra

This report documents three years – among many decades – of repeated protests and struggles by tens of thousands of farmers and peasants in Maharashtra, led by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). These struggles created the momentum for the historic Long March (March 6-12, 2018) from Nashik to Mumbai.

April 27, 2018 | Authors: Ashok Dhawale, P. Sainath, Sudhanva Deshpande | Editor: Vijay Prashad

From fields of despair – a march with hope

In Nashik on March 6, they were at least 20,000. By the time the farmers reached Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on March 12, they were 40,000. Tired but triumphant, exhausted but unyielding

March 15, 2018 | Binaifer Bharucha
They run the farm, they made the March
, and • Mumbai, Maharashtra

They run the farm, they made the March

They are up there amongst the hardest-working farmers anywhere. They’re down there amongst the poorest farmers – Adivasi women, who were at the March 6-12 march from Nashik to Mumbai in large numbers

March 15, 2018 | Shrirang Swarge and Parth M.N.

'I am a farmer, I walk this long journey'

A moving poem, along with a video, on the anguish of farmers who marched 180 kilometres from Nashik to Mumbai from March 6 to March 12, 2018, with the desperate hope of being heard, and with determination too

March 14, 2018 | The PARI team

After the March, the aftermath...
and • Mumbai, Maharashtra

After the March, the aftermath...

The Maharashtra government has guaranteed to make its farm loan waiver comprehensive, fairly implement the Forest Rights Act, and ensure that river-linking and dam projects won't displace farmers

March 14, 2018 | Parth M.N.

Long March: Blistered feet, unbroken spirit

The protesting farmers who assembled at Azad Maidan on March 12, drawing support from Mumbaikars along the way, know they’ve won a battle but not the war – 'We are ready to march again', they say

March 13, 2018 | Parth M.N.

From farm and forest: Long March to Mumbai

Tens of thousands of farmers are marching on Mumbai to encircle the Assembly and press for demands they feel the government has betrayed them on: crop prices, a loan waiver, forest rights, procurement and more…

March 8, 2018 | Parth M.N.