Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot on Tuesday launched the Kisan Nyay Padyatra from Baran district, demanding a farm loan waiver and raising the minimum support price for their produce, the Hindustan Times reported. The participants will walk a 100 km and end the rally at Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s constituency at Jhalawar on Friday, October 6.
Pilot said there had been a rise in the number of farmer suicides in Rajasthan. “Only yesterday, a debt-ridden farmer in Bundi district killed himself after his paddy crop was destroyed,” The Hindu quoted Pilot as saying. “This shows that the peasants have no faith in the government’s committee.”
The state government has appointed a committee to look into waiving farm loans of up to Rs 50,000. The protesting farmers said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government’s decision was not acceptable to them.
“The Congress will compel the Rajasthan government to waive loans completely through this yatra,” Pilot added.
Meanwhile, a group of farmers on Wednesday buried themselves in neck-deep pits to protest against the acquisition of 1,350 bigha land in Nindar village near Jaipur. The farmers on October 2 dug the graves after their protest for nearly two weeks had failed to draw the state government’s attention.
“Our samadhi would continue till the time state government does not roll back its decision and announces to de-acquire our lands,” Ninder Bachao Kisan Yuva Samiti coordinator Nagendra Singh told The Times of India. In September, the Jaipur Development Authority had acquired 1,350 bigha of land in Nindar to develop housing scheme. The authorities had started acquiring land for the housing scheme in 2009.
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