Kisan Rally or Kisan Long March was a large scale protest march by farmers in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, organized by the

All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 19 ...

, the peasants front of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

. Around 60,000 to 70,000 farmers marched a distance of 200 km from

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

gherao Gherao, meaning "encirclement", is a word which denotes a tactic used by labour activists and union leaders in India; it is similar to picketing. Usually, a group of people would surround a politician or a government building until their demands ...

the

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 memb ...

. The peaceful march came to a conclusion on March 12, 2018, after the Government of Maharashtra gave assurances for fulfillment of said demands. These assurances however, were not executed which resulted in Kisan Long March 2 which commenced on February 27, 2019, but was suspended soon after.

Background

The farming sector in the state of Maharashtra was badly affected by numerous factors including unseasonal rainfalls, hailstorm, and pest infestations. An estimated 2414 farmers had taken their lives in the state between January 1 and October 31, 2017. Considering these issues, among others, the government had announced a conditional loan waiver amounting to Rs 34,000

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

in 2017, but it was not implemented as promised. The long march was inspired and led by the Kisan Sabha leaders Ajit Nawale, Ashok Dhawale,

Jiva Pandu Gavit Jiva Pandu Gavit is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He belongs to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and is a seven-term member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly representing Surgana and Kalwan constituencies. He wa ...

and

Vijoo Krishnan Dr. Vijoo Krishnan is an Indian peasant leader, writer on Agrarian Issues and the All India General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha. He is a central committee member of Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is also part of the six-member ce ...

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References

2018 in Indian politics 2018 protests Indian farmers

Background

See also

References