AIKS-led farmers’ march completes five days of protest, nears Mumbai
The HinduPublished : Mar 17, 2023 20:03 IST - 3 MINS READ A 15,000-strong force of farmers under the banner of Kisan Long March completed its fifth day of protest on March 17. A statement from the AIKS said that following a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, six Ministers and several bureaucrats, the AIKS decided to halt the protest as the talks ended on a “positive note, with the State government acceding to most of the 15-point charter of demands of the farmers”. The other major demands are complete loan waiver to the peasantry; waiving of pending electricity bills and provision of 12-hour daily supply of power; compensation by the government and by insurance companies for the damage sustained by peasants owing to unseasonal rains and other natural calamities; vesting of all forest land, pasture, temple, inam, waqf, and benami land in the names of the cultivators; increase in the PM Housing Scheme subsidy from Rs.1.40 lakh to Rs.5 lakh and conducting of a fresh survey and including the applicants’ names in the ‘D’ list. Additionally, the protesters are seeking compensation in cases of necessary land acquisition as per the Kerala formula; increase in old age and special pension amount up to Rs.4,000 a month; restoring the old pension scheme for government employees who have joined after 2005; provision of 100 per cent grant to partially aided schools; filling up all vacancies in government posts; regularisation of all contract workers and scheme workers as government employees; and removal of fake adivasis in government posts and replacing them with genuine divasis.