TN farmers protest naked near PMO seeking drought relief
Tamil Nadu farmers on Monday ran naked near PM Narendra Modi's office, demanding ?39,000 crore drought relief fund from the Centre. Reportedly, this comes after they were promised an appointment with Modi but were not allowed to meet him later. These farmers have been sitting on protest since almost a month, holding skulls in hands and live mice in mouths. 
Farmers from Tamil Nadu ran naked near the Prime Minister's office today, to protest against lack of government assistance in their fight for a drought relief package for a state.The farmers, who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for 28 days, wanted to drop off their memorandum at the Prime Minister's Office.According to an Indian Express report, a delegation of seven farmers were taken to the PMO and were told that they would meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.When they reached there, they found PM Modi was unavailable. So they had to hand over their memorandum to a PMO official instead.Delhi: Tamil Nadu farmers stage nude protest outside North Block, demand drought relief fund#ITVideohttps://t.co/NounxnP7mgpic.twitter.com/vC7SpvwlO1Two other protestors joined him and started running naked in South Block. At one point, the farmers even started rolling on the street naked.The farmer who led the naked protest was eventually arrested. Here's why these farmers are protesting:1. Last year, Tamil Nadu recorded the worst spell of northeast monsoon in 140 years, leading to most farmers losing their winter crop. Most of these farmers had lost their summer crop too, due to Tamil Nadu's tussle with Kanataka over sharing water from the Cauvery river.The timing of government's demonetisation move didn't help either, as the prevailing cash crunch prevented farmers from tackling their farming expenses. Most of them couldn't even prepare for the next sowing season.2. The shock over crop loss and lack of revenue led to some farmers getting heart attacks, while many others committed suicide. At one point, an estimated 106 farmer deaths were reported within a month in Tamil Nadu. Some reports also say 144 farmers committed suicide between October to December in 2016.For the remaining farmers, loan installments and dues to moneylenders have now become the greatest problem. Most farmers haven't earned anything to come through on these payments. Farmers who tried selling their land, couldn't even find buyers because it was that dry.3. With no option left, a contingent of these farmers from Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli came to Delhi and have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since March 14.These farmers seek a drought relief fund of Rs 40,000 crore, better support for their produce and a loan waiver for peasants in Tamil Nadu. One Tamil Nadu local told Firstpost that the farmers asked for a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre, but they were only paid Rs 5,465 per acre.4. Despite the attention their protests have received, the farmers still await a meeting with the government's top officials. To garner attention, these farmers have resorted to all kinds of methods like cutting themselves and holding dead rats and snakes in their mouth.Late in March some farmers even wore skulls of dead Tamil Nadu farmers, symbolising the fate that awaits them if the centre does not help.Two farmers even attempted suicide at Jantar Mantar.