The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has demanded that the Central government reconsider the minimum support prices announced for some crops as the announced prices are insufficient and not based on market costs of the inputs.
The Communist Party of India-affiliated AIKS wanted the Centre to instruct the public sector and cooperative banks to reschedule loans given to farmers in line with the directive issued by the Reserve Bank of India. Though the RBI had issued the directive for rescheduling loans in view of the serious drought and flood conditions in different parts of the country, bankers were ‘ignoring' it.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, AIKS general secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan and president C.K. Chandrappan expressed concern that the MSP announced by the Centre recently was made without understanding the agony and pain of the farming community.
Farmers, who were burdened due to steep hike in input costs including fertilizer, seed and power in addition to the pressure on account of loans and market forces, would be compelled to quit agriculture and take to extreme steps. They lamented that the Centre had not taken into consideration the recommendations made by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) headed by M.S. Swaminathan and the Committee on Agriculture Costs and Prices.
