JUNE 1, 2018 marked the first anniversary of the beginning of the historic united farmers’ strike in Maharashtra, which lasted for 11 days. The AIKS played a key role in the strike. This strike forced the unwilling BJP-led state government to concede a Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver package, declaring that Rs 1.5 lakh would be waived per farmer. However, the onerous set of conditions that it imposed threw lakhs of farmers out of the loan waiver net.

THE Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, in a statement issued on March 23, has publicly condemned the rise of saffron terror in North East and the denial of special category to NE states. It condemned the state sponsored atrocities in Tripura after the BJP government came into power and in order to saffronise the politics and society, it has been actively eliminating opposition and dissenting voices from the state.

IT was truly an amazing struggle, the like of which has not been seen in Maharashtra in recent times. It caught the imagination of the peasantry and the people, and received their unstinted support, not only in the state but all over the country. It received the backing of parties and organisations all across the political spectrum. For the week from March 6-12 that the long march of nearly 200 km lasted, it became the centre of attraction for the entire national and state media, both print and electronic, and also the social media.

THE Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has taken a major decision to begin a ‘Long March’ on foot of over 50,000 peasants for a distance of nearly 200 km from Nashik to Mumbai, from March 6-12. Here the peasants will indefinitely gherao the state assembly which will then be in session, until their demands are met. This decision was taken in the extended meeting of the AIKS Maharashtra state council at Sangli on February 16, in which over 150 leading activists from 25 districts were present.

PEASANT organisations from Punjab and Haryana held a ‘Kisan Mukti Sammelan’ at Bhakna Bhawan, in Chandigarh on February 4, 2018 under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) to discuss farm suicides and find out ways to help the peasants in distress.

Convenor of the AIKSCC, VM Singh demanded that the government should fulfill its promise of implementing the Swaminathan Commission’s report which was submitted to the government in 2006 and was to be implemented in 2007.