Kisan Mazdoor Adhikar Yatra: Thousands of Farmers Marching From UP To Delhi with 15 Demands

Thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh with a large convoy of tractors and trolleys are marching to Delhi with a charter of 15 demands including loan waiver and fair prices for crops and are scheduled to reach the Kisan Ghat in the heart of the capital on September 21.

Farmers affiliated with the Rashtriya Kisan Sangathan flagged off ‘Kisan Mazdoor Adhikar Yatra’ on September 17 from Saharanpur and Shamli and other parts of Uttar Pradesh. The march will be reaching Delhi on September 21 via Noida; they will put their 15-point demands in front of the Modi government.

The farmers from these areas are upset with the government for not waiving off the farm loans and over the power tariff hike.

Thakur Puran Singh, national president of the Rashtriya Kisan Sangathan, told NewsClick, “Sugarcane farmers in Western Uttar Pradesh are living in a very pathetic situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed in waiving the farm loans, and in helping them recover their dues from the sugar mill owners. It has been nearly four months since the Modi government came to power for the second term, but this government has turned a deaf ear to our problems.”

“One of our main demands is loan waiver for the cane farmers. There are 16 sugar mills run by Bajaj Hindustan and not a single factory has paid more than 30% to the farmers. Due to this, several farmers have committed suicide. Plus, the power tariff is very high in Uttar Pradesh as compared to other states. In several states, electricity is either free or very cheap for the farmers, but unfortunately, most expensive in the cane belt. Other demands are that the Modi government is spending a huge amount on Namami Gange and to clean the Ganga river, but tributary rivers in our region including Kali, Hindon, Krishan are the most polluted rivers and due to this, 30% people are suffering from cancer,” he claimed.

The march, which is currently on its way to Ghaziabad from Saharanpur, is making an attempt to highlight the issues faced by farmers—low minimum support prices (MSPs), hike in diesel and electricity prices and pending sugarcane dues of farmers.

Explaining consequences of the cattle menace, Singh said, "Our both crops—wheat and sugarcane—are destroyed by the stray cattle despite huge expenditure in the name of gaushalas (cow sheds) by Chief Minister Adityanath. The government has also decided to give Rs 30 per day to individuals/farmers or organisations that are prepared to take care of stray cattle, but the ground reality is that nobody can take care of stray cattle for just Rs 30. According to even the government data, it will cost at least Rs 200 per day per animal. So, government should increase the amount.

Also read: UP Cow Shelter Policy Fails? Adityanath Announces Rs 900/Month to Farmers for Stray Cattle Care

“Not only the youth, but even the middle-aged people migrate to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru in the absence of the job opportunities. One of our demands is that if the government can not provide a job, then it should give unemployment allowance. We are sending our children to the school by selling milk from door to door. Ever since the BJP government came to power at both the Centre and the state, there is no value of any degree because there are no jobs.”

Meanwhile, sugarcane farmers from the Meerut district have been protesting, demanding payment of their dues from five sugar mills, which, they said, have now surpassed Rs 1,554 crore.

It may be noted that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath had set a deadline of August 31 for all the sugar mills to settle farmers’ arrears, but the total outstanding amount still stands at close to Rs 6,400 crore.