Whatsapp 88106-52225 For Details
Get Free IAS Booklet
Get Free IAS Booklet
New Farmers Movement
The farmer’s movements burst onto the National political stage in 1980 with the road and rail roko agitation in Nasik, Maharashtra, led by the Shetkari Sangathana of Sharad Joshi.
Sharad Joshi articulated the ideology of the movement in terms of India V/s Bharat, industrial V/s rural.
In 1986, in Muzaffarnagar, UP Mahendra Singh Tikait, presided over a gathering of lakhs of villagers before which the CM of UP had been forced to appear in person to announce his acceptance of their demand for a reduction of electricity charges to the old level.
In the 1980s there emerged widespread grassroots mobilisation of rural dwellers such as in Tamil Nadu led by Viva Sayigal Sangam, the Rajya Ryothu Sangha, Karnataka, Bhartiya Kisan Union Punjab and Haryana; Khedut Samaj and Kisan Sangh in Gujarat and the Shetkari Sangathana in Maharashtra.
The above-mentioned New Farmers Movement, especially in the 1980s, attracted much media and political attention. They focused mainly on the demands of remunerative prices for agricultural produce and lowering or elimination of government dues such as canal water charges, electricity charges, interest rates and principal of loans, etc.