Speak up Mumbai: Mumbai offers support to cause of farmers

  • | Monday | 23rd July, 2018

Initially, I was expecting that due to farmers strike vegetables prices will shoot up drastically, but the effect was not long lasting. — Pratik Malaviya, Andheri residentThe frequent farmers’ strikes have affected the common man a lot. The recurring farmers' strike has led to an increased price of commodities, the most recent being milk. The state government had introduced a Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme in June 2017. Because if the farmers go on strike, it will always affect the common man in our country.— Aawesh Shaikh, Madanpura residentThe farmers are fighting for their rights.

The recurring farmers' strike has led to an increased price of commodities, the most recent being milk. This has further been affecting the household budget of the Mumbaikars, particularly that of the middle-class.However, citizens have only more support for their farmers, who are just as affected by strikes, which have been organised not only in Mumbai or Maharashtra but across the country in the past few months. DNA spoke to a few locals, who expect the government to introduce and implement policies that will help the state's farmers. Citizens are expecting for the government to take a strong stand and uplift farmers while also introducing solutions to their problems. Such an approach, as many locals have echoed, will also reduce or even put a stop to strikes that have led to shortage of, and irregular price rice of vegetables and milk commodities in intervals in the recent months. The state government had introduced a Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme in June 2017. The scope of this loan waiver was expanded last week, which allowed individuals instead of the entire families to avail the scheme, meaning that multiple members of a single family were now entitled to avail farm loan waiver of upto Rs 1.5 lakh. ...& ANALYSIS 35,000 Approximate number of farmers who organised a protest march in March from Nashik to Mumbai 58 lakh farmers have availed loan waiver scheme benefits Rs 15,882 crore have been disbursed so far for loan waiver VOICES The farmers are on a protest but we cannot blamed them; we need to understand why did they do that. The farmer of this country has reached the brink of despair, they are either organising andolans or committing suicide because they don’t see options for themselves, but this has to stop. Government policies at both state and central levels are still tied up. They are only at the upper layer, still stuck up in subsidies, and loan waivers. The time has come and the need is to do something concrete for our farmers only then will there be an ultimate solution to the problems, only then will the strikes end, only then will farmers also feel that something is being done for them.— Ackruti Chitra Nishad, Mahim resident In my opinion, since the time India won independence, the farmers of our country have been exploited, harassed and punished. They have been feeding the nation, but today most farmers are in debt, which they are not able to pay, they are under loans, which can’t repay. We should work to get the farmers out of this situation. The PM should take serious steps. The need is to calls for a special session of Parliament and it should be dedicated only to discuss farmers crisis. There should be no politics or blame game it should be a genuine effort to help our farmers. The policies for farmers be made clear so that they don’t have to go on strikes again and all their problems are solved. — Sumeet Shahani, Colaba resident The prices of the vegetables increased a lot due to the strikes. The supply of milk was less too. In order to avoid all this, our government should plan and set up something for the poor farmers. Waiver of loans is the most important thing that is required at this point. Because if the farmers go on strike, it will always affect the common man in our country.— Aawesh Shaikh, Madanpura resident The farmers are fighting for their rights. Taking the milk strike for example, the rate of milk in the market is at least Rs 42 a litre and farmers get a mere Rs 16 or 17. The middlemen, and the company gets a bigger margin. This is impacting the farmers; we need to understand their problem too. So if they go on a strike, I understand. — Komal Bhatia, Chembur resident If it is about not getting milk, that has not happened. I did not get affected. But the method in which the protest happened, I think that is not correct. They should have shamed the government by giving milk to underprivileged children or to the poor for free. Throwing it down the drain is waste of national resources. There should be constructive thinking in solving the problem. In Japan, it is said, workers of a shoe company manufactured only one side of shoe in protest.— Nikhil Desai, Matunga resident Farmer’s strike did not affect me individually as such. Initially, I was expecting that due to farmers strike vegetables prices will shoot up drastically, but the effect was not long lasting. It is also important for the government to ensure our farmers are happy and their issues are addressed to, so that they do no resort to strikes.— Suhail Ansari, Pydhonie resident We are suffering because the farmers are not being taken care of by the government. While the poor farmers are committing suicide, politicians are owing huge tracts of land and pocketing profits. It’s result is seen now as farmers are frequently coming on road and end of the day we common public are suffering.— Mansoor Darvesh, Jogeshwari While we are thankful to the farmers for providing us our daily bread and butter, it due to some politically motivated people that the farmers’ movement has taken an ugly turn. I wholeheartedly support the movement as long as it is pious and untouched from politics. When the farmers walked and considered the pain of students appearing for the exam, I was in their support, but not when they get violent and use force. — Pratik Malaviya, Andheri resident The frequent farmers’ strikes have affected the common man a lot. Price of Vegetable has increased tremendously because of scarcity in the market. As veggies are perishable, this also leads to a high wastage of it at the farm level. And lastly, even after paying high price for veggies, the common man is not getting good quality and fresh vegetables. It’s impacting us badly.— Vilas Amonkar, Thane resident It’s pretty bad that the farmers’ conditions are not met. It leads the price surge and also the wastage of the perishable products. There has to be a proper community set, which addresses grievances of the farmers and problem solving has to be done in priority by the government.— Smita Bhingarde, Jogeshwari

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