Thousands of people began gathering in the city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, chanting and singing. Most of them are low caste and landless labourers or tribal people demanding legal rights over their land.

They are calling for a national authority to oversee land reform and a system of fast track courts to deal with the long delays in resolving land disputes.

Land reform is a huge issue in rural India. The system is often corrupt and unjust.

So over the next few weeks these protestors will walk more than 300km (180 miles) to Delhi, where their leaders hope to meet, among others, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It is a huge logistical exercise.

Those taking part are being broken down into groups of one thousand, to make sure everyone gets fed.

The march has been dubbed Janadesh - People's Verdict - and it is described as non-violent civil disobedience.