Activists from several progressive organisations have decided to observe the 75th anniversary of the historic Kagodu Satyagraha — considered the first peasant movement in independent India — through a series of programmes spread across this year. The initiative aims to revive public memory of a movement that shaped the course of land reforms in the country.

In March 1951, tenant farmers of Kagodu village in Sagar taluk revolted against landlords over a dispute regarding the size of the kolaga (a container used to measure and divide agricultural produce). Dissatisfied with the landlords’ unilateral changes to the terms of yield-sharing, the tenants refused to comply. The landlords retaliated by barring them from entering the very land they had tilled for generations. When the farmers defied the order, they were beaten up by the police and landlord supporters. Mass arrests followed, and the unfolding events drew nationwide attention.