Thousands of Maharashtra farmers protest in Mumbai

MUMBAI (Reuters): Tens of thousands of farmers from Maharashtra marched to the State capital Mumbai on Thursday to demand loan waivers and the transfer of forest lands to villagers who have farmed there for decades.

It was the latest protest by farmers against a State Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which faces a general election in May and a handful of State polls in the coming weeks.

Indian farmers voted overwhelmingly for Modi in 2014, but a fall in rural incomes risks damaging that support next year.

The protesters chanted slogans, demanding land transfers and compensation for drought-hit areas as they marched through Mumbai, home to many big companies and the central bank.

“For generations, we have been tilling the land but on paper, we don’t own it,” said Remsingh Pawara, who joined a similar protest in March when the State Government promised to settle the land rights issue.

“More than eight months have passed since the Government promised to resolve our problems, but nothing has been done,” said Pawara, who farms a 4.94 acre plot of forestry land in western India.

The farmers, mostly from the tribal belt in western India, were also demanding farm loan waivers and higher prices for food grain, milk and other produce.