Farmers, cutting across party lines, will lay a siege to Parliament on November 26 and 27 to put pressure on the BJP-led NDA government to repeal the three “corporate-friendly” farm Acts, according to All India Kisan Sabha national vice-president Ravula Venkaiah.
Taking part in an agitation staged by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee(AIKSCC) opposing the metering of farm pump sets in the State, Mr. Venkaiah gave a ‘Delhi chalo’ call to the farmers, and said the three Acts — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act — needed a thorough scrutiny.
Even the RSS-led Bharatiya Kisan Sangh was for making Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers mandatory and had expressed its reservation over the provisions of the three “controversial” pieces of legislation, said AIKSCC district convener Ch. Ranga Rao.
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Dig at YSRCP, TDP
It was unfortunate that both the ruling YSRCP and the Opposition TDP ignored farmers’ interests with “ulterior political motives,” AIKSS State co-convener K.V.V. Prasad said.
APCC vice-president Sripathi Prakasam said the party, on coming to power at the Centre, would scrap the “anti-farmer” Acts.
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The metering of farm pump sets was a part of a larger design to privatise the power sector in the State by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and scrap the free power scheme launched by former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in the unified State over a period of time, said Congress party farmers’ wing State vice-president V. Rajagopala Reddy.
Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham Prakasam district secretary Vadde Hanuma Reddy said, given the precarious financial position, there was no guarantee that the State government would honour its commitment to the farmers in the form of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) over a period.