Vidarbha farmers to hold 'chai pe charcha' tomorrow

Farmers and widows of farmers from Vidarbha region who committed suicide, will gather at Maregaon town nearly 70 kms from here tomorrow for 'chai pe charcha' to highlight their demands.
The farmers will gather under the banner of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) for a programme titled "Kisano ki chai pe charcha aur chinta" (Discussion over Tea - and Despair).
"The programme organised for farmers and farmers' widows, seeks to draw attention of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to recall assurances made by him to farmers during election campaign in Dabhadi village in Malegaon district, three months back," general secretary of VJAS Mohan Jadhav said yesterday.

"Modi had raised hopes of the farming community at his 'chai pe charcha' meeting in Dabhadi and asked Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to prepare a time-bound integrated solution to stop farmers' suicides," VJAS president Kishor Tiwari said.
Their major demands include - minimum support price (MSP) for cotton and soybean to match the production cost with a 50 per cent profit margin; new crop loan to farmers after waiving their existing debt dues; bringing in new technology in agriculture and irrigation; financial assistance for farm widows and higher education facilities to their wards, etc.