4. Hands in soil....................................................................... 72 Returns to India on 1 May 1976… buys home in Pune and farm near Chakan… experiments with dry-land farming…. bitter experience of cooperative farming… loss-making farming… exhausts all savings… unsuccessful attempts at traditional kind of rural development… Mama Shinde and others… rural elections… policy to give poor prices to farmers, root of poverty… urban-rural divide… “India versus Bharat”
5. Onions in Chakan : First Spark ..................................... 97 Onion was the main crop of the region… prices collapse as soon as government bans export to satisfy urban consumers… visits to Market to study problems faced by farmers… first agitation of farmers for higher prices successful… 8 Aug 1979, launches Shetkari Sanghatana… starts Warkari weekly… demands remunerative price for farmers…1 March 1980, first rasta roko… first fast… first arrest
6. Bitter Story of Sugarcane ............................................... 118 Demands minimum rate of Rs. 300 per ton... triumvirate of Sharad Joshi, Madhav More, Prahlad Karad Patil… support of Madhavrao Boraste of Niphad sugar factory… 10 Nov 1980, rasta roko starts… rail roko… firing in Kherwadi… blow to cooperative sugar barons… 31,000 farmers arrested… unprecedented support from lawyers… government accepts farmers’ demand… victory rally in Pimpalgaon
7. Smouldering Tobacco in Nipani ..................................... 136 Best quality tobacco from Nipani… stranglehold of traders and bidi manufacturers… exploited farmers and women workers… role of Subhash Joshi… 1 Feb 1981, Sharad
10
Q
Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
