A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Sunday, June 4, 2017
Farmers in Maharashtra strike for third day in row over loan waivers
A closed stall is seen at an empty wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Pimpalgaon, India June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Indian farmers in Maharashtra held back farm produce in the province for
a third day on Saturday, despite the state's assurance that it would
waive loans held by defaulting farmers with small tracts of land and low
incomes.
Maharashtra farmers want Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' government to
take steps to boost farm incomes and output including waiving all
agricultural loans, similar to the $5.6 billion in debt forgiveness
announced in April by India's most populous Uttar Pradesh state.
Prices of vegetables and milk have jumped more than 50 percent in major
cities such as Mumbai and the information and technology hub of Pune
after farmers cut supplies from Thursday.
Maharashtra, India's second most populous state, is the country's second-biggest producer of sugar, cotton and soybean.
A small fraction of farmers union called off the strike Saturday following a four-hour long meeting with Fadnavis.
The government would waive the debt of marginal farmers who defaulted in
the last few years, Fadnavis said, adding a panel would be set up to
find ways to implement the waiver.
Maharashtra needs to spend 305 billion rupees ($4.7 billion) to
write off debt owed by about 3.2 million farmers who had defaulted on
bank loans, he said on Thursday.
But a larger faction of farmers said they would continue the strike
until the government waived debt of all Maharashtra farmers and not just
marginal, or poorer, farmers who defaulted.
"The strike is not over. We will continue the strike until government
announces debt waiver for all farmers," said Ajit Nawale, who walked out
from the meeting.
Such outbursts of rural discontent in Maharashtra and other states
pose a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to
double farm incomes over the next five years.
Two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion people depend directly or
indirectly on farming for their livelihood but farm incomes only account
for 14 percent of gross domestic product, reflecting a growing divide
between the countryside and wealthier cities.
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Sankalp Phartiyal, Sanjeev Miglani and Edmund Blair)