After farmers of Maha village, their daughters launch stir

Mumbai: Daughters of farmers in Puntamba village of Maharashtra, which saw a movement for loan waiver two years ago, have launched a fresh agitation on Tuesday in support of their demands for cultivators. These young women, all in their early 20s, are demanding complete farm loan waiver and other relief measures like remunerative price for crop produce.

The village, located in Ahmednagar district, had shot into prominence in 2017 after an agitation started by farmers there spread to other parts of the state, prompting the Devendra Fadnavis government to announce Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver in June that year.

Now, around 10 to 15 daughters of farmers, who took part in the 2017 agitation, have started a sit-in at a make shift pandal in Puntamba, located around 250 km from here, under the banner of Kisan Kranti Morcha, a farmers' body.

Their agitation is led by Nikita Jadhav, daughter of Kisan Kranti Morcha's state convener Dhananjay Jadhav. "Their key demands are complete farm loan waiver, hike in milk procurement price to Rs 50 per litre and remunerative price for farm produce. The women are firm on their demands," a member of the Kisan Kranti Morcha said.

Farmers from Puntamba village had in April 2017 decided at a gram sabha meeting to stop the supply of produce to all major cities from June 1 that year.

The strike, that had spread to various parts of Maharashtra in the next few days, led to farmers shutting down wholesale markets and blocking highways. They had also disposed of milk and vegetables on roads.

The protests had forced the state government to form a Cabinet sub-committee to follow up on farmers' demands of farm loan waiver and remunerative crop prices.