A violent clash, hundreds named in FIR, 40 arrests and an echo in Lok Sabha – Tibbi, a town in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district, this week became ground zero for a protest that brought farmers from several north Indian states together against the construction of an ethanol plant. Their fear: the plant would pollute groundwater and hinder farming in one of Rajasthan’s most fertile areas.

The past week saw a clash between police and protesters after the latter demolished a boundary wall of the under-construction plant with tractors. The clash took place following a mahapanchayat by the protesting farmers.

The clash was intense – protesters vandalised and set ablaze several vehicles, while police fired teargas shells and used lathi charge to bring them under control. A Congress MLA, Abh

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