Why Maharashtra farmers walked 170 km and how their strike played out

Why do you think a farmer chooses to kill himself instead of voicing his anger in protest? It is because he has lost all hope, says Ajit Navle, state general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha

In the hilly terrain at the northern tip of Western Ghats, bordering Maharashtra and Gujarat, lies Surgana, an erstwhile princely state ruled by tribal chieftains of the Mahadev Koli tribe. Surgana joined the instrument of accession to be part of the Indian Union in March 1948. Seventy years later, in March 2018, it was the birthplace of the uniquely successful protest by the tribal folk and farmers of Maharashtra.
 
Minal Pawar, 32, and a graduate in commerce is the sarpanch (head) of the gram panchayat at Khobla village, 20 km from Surgana town in the northern district of Nashik