A one-day dharna was held at the Block HQs of Jainagar, Domchanch, Markachho and Koderma Sadar Blocks of Jharkhand on 28 November 2017 under the banner of the All India Kisan Mahasabha on the following farmers’ demands: paddy purchase centre at every Panchayat in each Block; timely supply of fertilizers and seeds at subsidized rates to farmers; purchase price double of crop outlay price; food security cards for all deprived and poor; housing for the poor under the Pradhan Manti Aawas Scheme; a 20 ft well in every Panchayat; free electricity for agricultural purposes; Block level cold storage, and other demands.
About 150 farmers participated in the dharna at the Jainagar Block led by Block Secretary Munna Yadav and District Committee member Rajkumar Paswan. 100 farmers, women as well as men, participated in the dharna at Markachho Block led by Block Secretary Ashok Yadav, Area Scretary Ibrahim Ansari and Premchandra. The dharna at Domchanch Block was led by Block Secretary Rajendra Mehta, Baleshwar Das and Ramdhan Yadav was attended by 125 farmers. The Koderma Sadar dharna was attended by 100 farmers, men and women, and led by Kisan leaders comrades Tulsi Rana, Ajay Pandey, Sandeep Kumar, and State Committee member Shyamdev Yadav. The Block level dharnas were accompanied by spirited slogans on the issues of paddy purchase centres, fertilizers and seeds, starvation deaths and the Raghubar government’s accountability, middlemen and corruption in government schemes. Despite the busy time of paddy harvest, a total of over 500 farmers participated in the 4 Block level dharnas which took the farmers’ issues and their struggle extensively to all parts of Koderma district. The movement has also put the government and the administration under pressure to resolve the farmers’ issues.
