Former Labour Minister S.K. Kanta and several farmers’ leaders including Maruthi Manpade, Ashok Myageri, Ambarishgouda, Santhosh Rathod, Shanth Kumar, Maula Mulla and Kalyani Gayakwad were arrested when they attempted to barge into the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Friday. They were taken to Station Bajar police station and booked under Sections 151 and 107 of Indian Penal Code. The leaders were agitating outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner as part of their scheduled jail bharo agitation.
Their demands included increasing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red-gram from ₹ 5,500 to 7,500 as per the recommendation of M.S. Swaminathan Commission, imposing 30% import duty on the import of pulses to ensure increase red-gram price in the domestic market, increasing red-gram procurement target from 1.75 lakh tonnes to 3.25 tonnes and extension of procurement date to April 30, 2017.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Kanta condemned the Union and State governments for their “insensitiveness” to farmers’ issues. “Governments always ready to offer monetary benefits to the corporate class through huge tax exemptions. But, when it comes to small farmers who are struggling to make a living and feeding the country, they don’t do anything to rescue the farming community in distress. It is our right to agitate for justice,” he said.
Maruthi Manpade, president of Karnataka Prantha Raita Sangha, said that the MSP of ₹ 5,500 was inadequate considering the cost of cultivation. He alleged that the red-gram procurement centres were not functioning properly.
“The number of procurement centres is inadequate considering the huge quantity of red-gram coming to the market. Even the centres opened are not functioning properly. They had stopped procurement for 15 days a few days ago due to the shortage of bags. They have again stopped procurement today for the same reason,” he said. He wanted the government to extend the last date of procurement till April 30 and increase the procurement cap from 1.75 lakh tonnes to 3.25 tonnes so as to allow all the farmers to sell their crop at the procurement centres at Rs. 5,500 a quintal against the market price of Rs. 4,200.
