In January 1996 and April 1997, the landless farmers had staged hunger strikes in Mumbai and Deputy CM Gopinath Munde and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane had promised to revive the share-cropping system of government land within a month. Later, CM Manohar Joshi had announced in a public meeting at Ahmednagar on Nov 30, 1997, that the system would be revived within a month.

Subsequently, on December 30, a Cabinet decision to permit landless farmers to till government land was announced. However, the farmers still await allocation of plots.