I had already written a sizeable portion of The Sickle in 2018 when I found myself perturbed at visuals on the TV screen of innumerable fa...
I had already written a sizeable portion of The Sickle in 2018 when I found myself perturbed at visuals on the TV screen of innumerable farmers marching 180 kilometres barefoot from Nashik to Azad Maidan in Mumbai. I was able to see an underlying connection between the politics of droughts in Marathwada, the uncertain lives of migrant sugarcane labourers who are bereft of rights, the aftermath to the suicides of farmers in Vidarbha, and the march undertaken by tribal peasants.
Shortly afterwards I travelled to the Surgana subdivision on the border between Nashik and Surat, where tribals have been farming the forest land adjacent to the hills for generations without getting leases. The thoughts of the march began with their protests. I saw signs of these extinct forests where they farm now. The land had not been measured, nor had leases been given, although all of this should have been done under the Forest Rights Act. The farmers were worried that the government land would be taken away under the pretext of creating land banks for industrial houses, that tribal farmers would lose their land as well as their livelihood.
After meeting them, I followed the route of the long march to Nashik. Defying the instructions...
