All India Kisan Sabha, Maharashtra: HISTORIC VICTORY OF THE PEASANTRY OF MAHARASHTRA!

Sunday, June 11, 2017

HISTORIC VICTORY OF THE PEASANTRY OF MAHARASHTRA!

June 11, 2017 saw the historic victory of the peasantry of Maharashtra, after a 10 day novel and unprecedented strike, backed by a massive Maharashtra Bandh on June 5. Under pressure of the unity and struggle of the peasantry and the impending call for a militant state-wide Rail Roko and Rasta Roko struggle on June 13, the BJP-Shiv Sena state govt represented by the high-powered committee of five cabinet ministers today held talks with the Coordination Committee of Peasant Organisations in Mumbai.

After strenuous negotiations for over three hours, the govt agreed to the following demands:

1. Complete loan waiver to the peasantry, subject to certain criteria to exclude the rich sections. These criteria will be decided within one month by a 10 member committee comprising 5 representatives of the Kisan organisations and 5 of the state government.*

2. Implementation of loan waiver to all peasants holding less than 5 acres of land with immediate effect and new loans to be given to them immediately for the coming sowing season.

3. Substantial increase in the price of milk to be paid to the peasantry as per the formula that 70 per cent of the selling price of milk will go to the peasant and 30 per cent to the processing institute for its expenses.

4. CM will take a delegation of peasant organisations to the PM to insist on the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of fixing MSP to cover cost of production plus 50 per cent profit.

5. State govt will give written reply to other points in the memorandum.

6. Police cases in this struggle will be immediately withdrawn.

The peasant organisations were represented in the talks by Raju Shetty, MP, Bachhu Kadu, MLA, Jayant Patil, MLC, Raghunathdada Patil, Dr Ashok Dhawale (AIKS), Convenor of the committee Dr Ajit Nawale (AIKS), Namdev Gavade and others. The state government was represented by cabinet ministers Chandrakant Patil, Divakar Ravte, Pandurang Fundkar, Girish Mahajan and Subhash Deshmukh. If the criteria of the loan waiver are not satisfactorily decided before the state assembly session begins on July 24, it was declared that the Committee will re-launch the struggle from July 26, the birth anniversary of renowned social reformer Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

This victory has been hailed far and wide by the peasantry of Maharashtra and the media has also welcomed it profusely in lead headlines. The significant point is that the AIKS was widely acknowledged as the focal point of this remarkable struggle and it took the lead in uniting all other peasant organisations in the state to successfully overcome the vile attempt by the government and some other forces to break the peasant strike on June 3.

Ashok Dhawale, Joint Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha

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About Us

All India Kisan Sabha (अखिल भारतीय किसान सभा; AIKS), is the largest national organisation representing peasants in India, with a membership of 2,25,81,308 (22.58 million). The AIKS, which was formed at its first conference on April 11, 1936 at Lucknow, has a glorious 75-year history. It played a stellar role in arousing the peasantry against British imperialism in the movement for national freedom. It was able to unite various sections of the peasantry in the struggle against feudalism, big traders and monopolists. The AIKS led historic peasant struggles in Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Tebhaga in West Bengal, Punnapra-Vayalar and North Malabar in Kerala, Surma Valley in Assam and tribal movements in Tripura and Maharashtra.

In the period after independence, it has continued to organise peasants against the anti-peasant policies of the government. These policies have acquired a particularly disastrous nature during the last two decades of neo-liberalism, leading to suicides of over 2.5 lakh debt-ridden peasants in the last 15 years. The strong peasant movement built by the AIKS has contributed to the formation of the Left-led state governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

The AIKS believes that a powerful agrarian movement has to be built on alternative policies centred on the interests of the poor peasants and agricultural workers, both of whom constitute the overwhelming majority of the Indian peasantry. The AIKS is clear that only a thoroughgoing agrarian revolution can truly solve the deep and growing crisis in Indian agriculture.

Some of the towering peasant leaders of the AIKS have been Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Muzaffar Ahmad, P Sundarayya, A K Gopalan, E M S Namboodiripad, M Basavapunnaiah, Hare Hrishna Konar, Benoy Krishna Choudhary, Dasharath Deb, M A Rasul, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Godavari Parulekar and Krantisimha Nana Patil.

This blog is managed by the Maharashtra State Committee of the AIKS. The Maharashtra State Committee functions out of Janashakti, P.B.Marg, Worli, Mumbai-400013; Phone: +91-22-24951576.