<p>A farmers&#39; protest in Maharashtra, on the Thane-Badlapur highway, has&nbsp;turned violent.</p>

<p>Multiple images show smoke billowing from vehicles set on fire.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The farmers are reportedly protesting against their land being acquired by the defence ministry.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Visuals?src=hash">#Visuals</a> from Thane-Badlapur highway where farmers protest turned violent, farmers say their land is being acquired by MoD. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Maharashtra?src=hash">#Maharashtra</a> <a href="https://t.co/X5TgogeoMU">pic.twitter.com/X5TgogeoMU</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/877758814539227136">June 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>NDTV reported that several policemen had been injured in the protests.&nbsp;</p>

<p>ANI reported that additional forces and riot control vehicle had been sent to the spot.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh, protesting farmers have blocked a railway track and stopped trains in Hoshangabad.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Madhya Pradesh: Protesting farmers from Sivani, Malwa and Banapur block railway track &amp; stop trains, in Hoshangabad <a href="https://t.co/1H26OVWG2K">pic.twitter.com/1H26OVWG2K</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/877782692317745152">June 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p><em>More details are awaited</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Multiple images show smoke billowing from vehicles set on fire

A farmers' protest in Maharashtra, on the Thane-Badlapur highway, has turned violent. Multiple images show smoke billowing from vehicles set on fire. The farmers are reportedly protesting against their land being acquired by the defence ministry. #Visuals from Thane-Badlapur highway where farmers protest turned violent, farmers say their land is being acquired by MoD. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/X5TgogeoMU — ANI (@ANI_news) June 22, 2017 × NDTV reported that several policemen had been injured in the protests. ANI reported that additional forces and riot control vehicle had been sent to the spot. Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh, protesting farmers have blocked a railway track and stopped trains in Hoshangabad. Madhya Pradesh: Protesting farmers from Sivani, Malwa and Banapur block railway track & stop trains, in Hoshangabad pic.twitter.com/1H26OVWG2K — ANI (@ANI_news) June 22, 2017 × More details are awaited

Maharashtra: Farmers' protest turns violent, cops reportedly hurt

<p lang="EN-US">The farmers&#39; strike in western India&#39;s Maharashtra turned violent on Thursday with protesters damaging vehicles and stopping supply of vegetables, milk, and&nbsp;other farm produce to Mumbai, India&#39;s financial capital, and other major cities.</p>

<p lang="EN-US">The police had to resort to&nbsp;baton&nbsp;charge&nbsp;and firing teargas shells to disperse the unruly mob.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">The violence, however,&nbsp;was mostly limited to the&nbsp;prosperous districts of western Maharashtra. The farmers&nbsp;have called&nbsp;for an indefinite strike and refused to&nbsp;roll back their protest unless the state government accedes to their demands.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">This is the first time since 1933 that farmers in the state have gone on a strike. The 1933 strike that sparked off from the&nbsp;arable&nbsp;Konkan region of the state&nbsp;continued for more than a decade.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">The farmer&#39;s&nbsp;movement&nbsp;operating under a joint body,&nbsp;Kisan&nbsp;Kranti&nbsp;Morcha,&nbsp;is demanding 100&nbsp;per cent loan waiver for all farmers, higher government rates for produce like wheat, sugarcane,&nbsp;vegetables and&nbsp;milk,&nbsp;implementation&nbsp;of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, a pension scheme for farmers, 100 per cent subsidy for irrigation tools and&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;50 rate for milk.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">The state government on its part does not seem equipped to meet the&nbsp;demands.&nbsp;A&nbsp;complete loan waiver for all&nbsp;farmers&nbsp;will cost the Maharashtra treasury&nbsp;Rupees&nbsp;305 billion&nbsp;(USD&nbsp;4.73 billion). The demand comes on the heels of the USD&nbsp;5.6 billion&nbsp;farming loan waiver for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as promised by the ruling&nbsp;Bharatiya&nbsp;Janata Party in its state poll manifesto.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Devendra&nbsp;Fadnavis&nbsp;reportedly assured the farmers&nbsp;that he will try to work out a formula for waiving loans, but added that it will take some time.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">&quot;We had a sit-in protest by farmers from&nbsp;neighbouring&nbsp;districts&nbsp;on&nbsp;May&nbsp;28 when state minister&nbsp;Sadabhau&nbsp;Khot&nbsp;took some of our representatives to meet the CM. He told us it will take two months to figure out how much loan can actually be waived. The farmers rejected this since the state has been reeling under drought past few years,&quot;&nbsp;Avinash&nbsp;Chavan, who is a&nbsp;doctor as well as a farmer from&nbsp;Puntamba&nbsp;village, 15 km from the temple town of&nbsp;Shirdi, told WION&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">The initial idea of a &quot;farmers&#39;&nbsp;strike&quot; was arrived upon in&nbsp;Puntamba&nbsp;, says Chavan.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">&quot;The Minimum Support Price government has fixed for acquiring agricultural&nbsp;produce&nbsp;is too low.&nbsp;Farmers&nbsp;in my village,&nbsp;Puntamba&nbsp;(15 km from the famous pilgrimage of&nbsp;Shirdi), decided to go on a strike. If everybody else can go on a strike for better wages, so can farmers,&quot; added Chavan.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">Chavan&nbsp;said the decision to go on a&nbsp;strike&nbsp;was taken in&nbsp;a Gram Sabha (village body) meeting held on April 1. In&nbsp;the initial stage,&nbsp;some 50 villages joined in. &quot;By May 1, many other villages joined in the protest. Now the strike is on all over Maharashtra,&quot; he added.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">News&nbsp;agency Reuters reported that trucks carrying vegetables and milk tankers were&nbsp;vandalised&nbsp;for ignoring the strike call. Incidents of violence were reported from&nbsp;Kopargaon&nbsp;in Ahmednagar district,&nbsp;Satara&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kolhapur. However, this was hardly an exception as Reuters reported. Violence was also reported from Nashik&nbsp;district.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">However, some others say this is an attempt by prosperous farmers to piggyback on the poor and get some freebies from the government.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">&quot;The farmers who really need loan waiver in Maharashtra are&nbsp;actually&nbsp;a very small number. Those small farmers who still depend on rain for irrigation don&rsquo;t really get&nbsp;loans from government banks or any other private lending body. Some rich farmers from western Maharashtra&nbsp;are driving this movement. Three of them are from&nbsp;Puntamba. One of them withdrew from the movement after the meeting with the CM since he foresaw violence. This protest is no longer under the&nbsp;control of the original&nbsp;organisers,&quot;&nbsp;Madhav Ojha, a Marathi&nbsp;journalist based in&nbsp;Puntamba&nbsp;told WION.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">Ojha said western Maharashtra farmers growing grapes and pomegranate have recorded losses because of poor and unseasonal rainfall.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">According to local farmers, the MSP for wheat in 2016 was&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;2400-2500 per quintal, while in 2017 it is between&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;1400-1500 per quintal. The government has cited over-production as a reason behind low acquisition prices. &quot;Sugarcane has an MSP of&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;2100-2200 per quintal in Maharashtra, while in Gujarat the current rate is&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;3500,&quot;&nbsp;said&nbsp;Chavan.&nbsp;</p>

<p lang="EN-US">(WION)</p>


Protesters damaged vehicles and stopped the supply of vegetables, milk, and other farm produce to Mumbai, India's financial capital

The farmers' strike in western India's Maharashtra turned violent on Thursday with protesters damaging vehicles and stopping supply of vegetables, milk, and other farm produce to Mumbai, India's financial capital, and other major cities. The police had to resort to baton charge and firing teargas shells to disperse the unruly mob. The violence, however, was mostly limited to the prosperous districts of western Maharashtra. The farmers have called for an indefinite strike and refused to roll back their protest unless the state government accedes to their demands. This is the first time since 1933 that farmers in the state have gone on a strike. The 1933 strike that sparked off from the arable Konkan region of the state continued for more than a decade. The farmer's movement operating under a joint body, Kisan Kranti Morcha, is demanding 100 per cent loan waiver for all farmers, higher government rates for produce like wheat, sugarcane, vegetables and milk, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, a pension scheme for farmers, 100 per cent subsidy for irrigation tools and Rs 50 rate for milk. The state government on its part does not seem equipped to meet the demands. A complete loan waiver for all farmers will cost the Maharashtra treasury Rupees 305 billion (USD 4.73 billion). The demand comes on the heels of the USD 5.6 billion farming loan waiver for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as promised by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in its state poll manifesto. Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis reportedly assured the farmers that he will try to work out a formula for waiving loans, but added that it will take some time. "We had a sit-in protest by farmers from neighbouring districts on May 28 when state minister Sadabhau Khot took some of our representatives to meet the CM. He told us it will take two months to figure out how much loan can actually be waived. The farmers rejected this since the state has been reeling under drought past few years," Avinash Chavan, who is a doctor as well as a farmer from Puntamba village, 15 km from the temple town of Shirdi, told WION The initial idea of a "farmers' strike" was arrived upon in Puntamba , says Chavan. "The Minimum Support Price government has fixed for acquiring agricultural produce is too low. Farmers in my village, Puntamba (15 km from the famous pilgrimage of Shirdi), decided to go on a strike. If everybody else can go on a strike for better wages, so can farmers," added Chavan. Chavan said the decision to go on a strike was taken in a Gram Sabha (village body) meeting held on April 1. In the initial stage, some 50 villages joined in. "By May 1, many other villages joined in the protest. Now the strike is on all over Maharashtra," he added. News agency Reuters reported that trucks carrying vegetables and milk tankers were vandalised for ignoring the strike call. Incidents of violence were reported from Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district, Satara and Kolhapur. However, this was hardly an exception as Reuters reported. Violence was also reported from Nashik district. However, some others say this is an attempt by prosperous farmers to piggyback on the poor and get some freebies from the government. "The farmers who really need loan waiver in Maharashtra are actually a very small number. Those small farmers who still depend on rain for irrigation don’t really get loans from government banks or any other private lending body. Some rich farmers from western Maharashtra are driving this movement. Three of them are from Puntamba. One of them withdrew from the movement after the meeting with the CM since he foresaw violence. This protest is no longer under the control of the original organisers," Madhav Ojha, a Marathi journalist based in Puntamba told WION. Ojha said western Maharashtra farmers growing grapes and pomegranate have recorded losses because of poor and unseasonal rainfall. According to local farmers, the MSP for wheat in 2016 was Rs 2400-2500 per quintal, while in 2017 it is between Rs 1400-1500 per quintal. The government has cited over-production as a reason behind low acquisition prices. "Sugarcane has an MSP of Rs 2100-2200 per quintal in Maharashtra, while in Gujarat the current rate is Rs 3500," said Chavan. (WION)

Maharashtra: Farmer protest turns violent, first strike since 1933

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Maharashtra: Farmers' protest turns violent, cops reportedly hurt

Maharashtra: Farmer protest turns violent, first strike since 1933