The confederation of the farmers’ organisations, consisting of all the major farmers organisations in the state have raised a banner of revolt against the anti-farmer policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the centre and the unhelpful attitude of the State government.
The leaders of the confederation, including leaders of different farmers organisations Maruti Manpade, Basavaraj Ingin, S.K. Kanta, Moula Mulla, Kedarlingaiah Hiremath, Dayanand Patil and others came down heavily on the Central government’s decision to issue an ordinance amending the Right to Fair compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and interfering in the powers of the State government to pay incentives over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the agriculture produce.
Addressing a joint press conference in Kalaburagi on Tuesday, these leaders accused BJP mortgaging the interests of the farmers to help the multi-national companies and corporate bodies to get the farmers land without any hindrance at cheaper rates. “The government through this ordinance wants to take away the right to own the land enjoyed by the farming community”. They also took serious exception to the statement of the RBI Governor against loan waiver scheme to the farmers.
They said that the union government was unnecessarily intruding into the rights of the State government by issuing directions not to announce any incentives over and above the MSP announced by the central government for agriculture produces and also limiting the intervention in the market to the food grains which were supplied in the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Mr. Manpade said that they were protesting against the intrusion of the central government in Agriculture sector which was in state’s list. The central government has threatened to curtain the grants provided to the state under agricultural sector if they violated the diktat of the union government.
The farmer leaders announced that if the anti-farmer steps were not reversed, the farmers will launch an agitation against the Central and State governments and on January 2, the farmers would take out a procession in Kalaburagi and stage a human-chain protest near Jagat circle.
They demanded the State government should fix the procurement price of Rs. 6,000 per quintal for Red Gram, Black Gram, Bengal Gram and Green Gram and set-up procurement centres in all the hobli headquarters immediately. Similarly, the government should fix a procurement price of Rs. 3,500 per quintal for Jowar. The government should also establish an agriculture produce procurement agency with a revolving fund of Rs. 10,000 crore. Red Gram and Jowar should be supplied in the PDS.
