We are fundraising by running a half marathon relay for farmers and their families

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The farming crisis in India is not new to us. Systemic degradation of soil, combined with the usage of chemical intense fertilisers has created heavy damage to the soil conditions. Agrarian conditions have worsened year over year, resulting in heavy losses to the farming community. It is very strange that while more than 25% of the population works in farming, their contribution to GDP is only 12%.

Another phenomena that is disturbing is that while the prices of agricultural produce rises sharply, the farmers do not benefit. Most of the benefit is shared by the middlemen, leaving very little to the producers. The farmers are also at the whim of mother nature, leaving them with very little in bad years. The last ten years has been very disturbing for the farming sector in India. Many farmers have sold land and turned to casual labor to take care of their families.

We are a group of friends who use running/cycling to raise awareness about various causes. We call ourselves Ride2Light, in the hope that our actions will drive us towards light. We raised 3.5 lakh INR last year, in our first attempt while riding from Bangalore to Delhi on a 17 day cycle trip.
This time, we are running 150 kms in the form of half marathon relays for the farmers in the Chintamani taluk. We are working with a grassroots organisation to help the farmers and their families.

We are raising funds for
1. Contour bunds to prevent top soil run off
2. Seed bank to store traditional seeds
3. Solar lights for families
4. Books for a library
5. Drums and other farming implements.

You can reach out to us through facebook.com/ride2light, @ride2light, ride2light@gmail.com for any questions or suggestions.

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18th January 2016

Dear supporters,

I am a Vishnu Rao, a Milaap open fellow from Bangalore. I met up with Sidharth Dudheria over coffee a few days back. He shared his experiences and motivations for taking up this cause for farmers. He says farmer issues are a very evocative topic in this country. He rightly pointed out that us as youngsters aren’t very aware of the ground realities. When we buy vegetables for Rs. 50 per kilo, the farmer gets only Rs. 5 at the end of the day. A frightening statistic he quoted to backup up his point. He and his group of friends cumulatively ran over 200KM in their effort. The village that he intends to work in is the chowdenahalli village at the Chintamani taluk. There is a colony just outside this village that is mainly composed of people from the Dalit community, they have been ostracized from the village and live outside it. There is erratic power supply, water is an issue and living conditions are pretty bad. He intends to use funds for this particular colony. The taluk is one of the most drought hit areas in the country and most people are now migrating to the cities. They are settling down as urban poor, moving from their established yet diminishing rural incomes. This situation must change and requires immediate action. Below are some pics from his run. Image title

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