‘Agriculture in the village is killing us’

Gopinath Naikwadi came to Nashik determined to march to Mumbai. “We waited for a year, but the government didn’t meet any of our demands. This time we will not come back till the government implements those demands,” said the 88-year-old farmer from Tambhol village in Akola taluka of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.

Naikwadi used to cultivate four acres, of which he owns an acre and the rest is forest department land. But for the past year, he has only been farming on his one acre. “There is no drinking water in the village. How can we farm?” he asked me on the outskirts of Vilholi village in Nashik district, where thousands of farmers had halted for lunch at around 2.30 p.m. on February 21 after marching 10 kilometres for three hours from the Mahamarg bus stand in Nashik. He too had walked there along with around 250 farmers from Akola taluka.

Naikwadi now mainly takes care of the fodder for the family’s animals, and only  sometimes does farm work; his son looks after their land. Under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Pension Scheme, he gets Rs. 600 a month. “What can we do with Rs. 600?” he asked. “Our demand is that the pension should be increased to Rs. 3,000.”   

“This time, if the government doesn’t implement our demands, we will not leave Mumbai. It’s better to die in Mumbai. Anyway, agriculture in the village is killing us.”

Postscript: Late at night on February 21, the All India Kisan Sabha, the organiser of the march,  called off the protest after talks with government representatives that lasted for five hours, and after the government gave a  written commitment that it will meet all the demands of the farmers. "We will resolve every single issue in a time-bound manner and we will do a follow-up meeting every two months," Girish Mahajan, state minister for water resources, announced to the gathering. "You [farmers and farm labourers] should not bear the hardship of walking all the way to Mumbai. This is a government that listens. Now we will implement these assurances so that you don't have to take out another march."