Holding red flags and banners and raising slogans against the State and Union governments, hundreds of farmers took out a procession from SVP Circle to the district administration complex and staged a demonstration outside it demanding scientific Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red gram crop.
The agitation was organised by Socialist Unity Centre of India – Communist (SUCI-M) and its farmers’ wing Raita Krishikarmikara Sanghatane (RKS).
Ganapathrao Mane, district president, lashed at successive governments for ignoring the farm sector and implementing ‘anti-farmer’ policies to help corporate classes in the agriculture business.
“Governments are so insensitive that they are paying the least attention to the farm sector despite more farmers committing suicides. It is the corporate-oriented agriculture policies that are pushing the farm sector into a deeper crisis,” he said.
Demanding scientific MSP considering cost of cultivation plus comfortable profit margin, H.V. Diwakar, district secretary of (SUCI-M), said, “If farmers get scientific prices for their crops, they won’t need any freebies that governments offer in the name of welfare schemes as they will comfortably lead a dignified life with their hard-earned money.”
Farmers participating in the agitation alleged that the red gram price would significantly drop when their crop was harvested and brought to the market.
“The government announces MSP after half of the crop is harvested and sold out at a throwaway price. We, therefore, demand that government announce the MSP well before the commencement of harvest and open procurement centres at each gram panchayat,” a farmer said.
Traffic movement was hit for a brief period as a result of the agitation.
