Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Farmers demand guaranteed income

Mar 19, 2013 | Pratirodh Bureau
Scores of farmers from across the country gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday under the banner of Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers\\\’ Movements (ICCFM) and started a mahapanchayat demanding, among other things, a farmers’ income commission to guarantee a minimum livelihood income.
 
In a protest termed "Kisan Khet Mazdoor Mahapanchayat", the ICCFM, a conglomerate of several peasants\\\’ organizations,along with NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movements) demanded a law be passed to assure a guaranteed income to farmers, tenants and sharecroppers. 
 
The mahapanchayat has declared that farmers would “stay put” at Jantar Mantar till their demands were met.

Here is the press release by NAPM:
 
A historic mobilization of more than 1 lakh farmers, farm workers and agrarian masses belonging to a wide variety of social movements from across India descended upon New Delhi today. Protestors at the \\\’Kisan Khet Mazdoor Mahapanchayat\\\’  came to show their collective commitment towards getting the government’s attention to reverse the grave agrarian crisis caused by liberalization reforms supporting foreign investors, corporations; reforms that support elite consumerism instead of the agrarian masses and common people of India. Farmers from the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers\\\’ Movements (ICCFM) comprising of independent mass farmers groups such as the Bhartiya Kisan Union and the Karnataka Farmers Movement (KRRS), have joined hands with the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) to defend rights to land, water, forest and seeds – the most important resources for agrarian people, and the source of food and livelihood for the Indian masses.
 
Addressing the masses at Jantar Mantar, Naresh Tikait, National Chairperson of BKU said, “Millions of food producers are being forced to abandon agriculture and leave the villages in search of insecure, unavailable jobs. Or they are pushed to even commit suicide in lakhs. At this rate, there will soon be only a small number of farmers left in the country. Our agriculture will be controlled by a handful of private corporations which exploit people in order to maximize their profits. Is this is a sensible route to take in an age of a deep environmental crisis, when thousands are dying of hunger and need a secure livelihood? If the Indian government continues to promote unharnessed industrialization and elite consumerism then where will the water and electricity come from for such large industrial projects and what will be the impact on nature and the poor?”
 
Speaking on the land acquisition act, Rakesh Tikait of BKU said, “Agriculture has been turned into a losing way of life: our lands, the main resource for our livelihoods, are being grabbed for private corporations. We have been trying to get the attention of the government but they have no time for the farmers. They make false verbal commitment.  But this time our farmers committee has made a resolution that we will not move from Delhi until we get a serious commitment from the UPA government.” 
 
All the farmers’ leaders collectively burned the Land Acquisition & Resettlement and Rehabilition Act 2011, which has been high on the national political agenda these days. Pointing out that although farmers supported a new land bill, they absolutely did not support the current form of the bill which has ignored the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee and converted the bill into an instrument for taking away farm land for private corporations. Medha Patkar of the NAPM said, “The first right over land is of farmers, so that they can produce food for the Indian masses, and have a livelihood. The bill should be returned to the parliamentary standing committee. Instead of grabbing more land the government should tell us first what it is doing with all the land that it has already taken from people over the last so many years, not even providing compensation or rehabilitation to the poor who have given up their land. The Indian government cannot grab our land for private corporations at any cost.”.
 
In the five point demand created by the Mahapanchayat, farmers income was pointed out as a major issue. “The average income of a farming household is a mere Rs 1,800, not enough to cover even basic needs. Even the lowest government employee, a peon, gets about Rs 20,000. How are we expected to survive at this rate?  Farmers should get a guaranteed income like all other government officials,” said Rajpal Sharma of BKU. Calling the MSP(Minimum Support Price) an unjust and unscientific category which does not even cover the cost of production, they have instead asked for a profitable and remunerative price of all crops, which they call the Farmers and Remunerative Prices (FRP). Nandini Jairam of KRRS said , “the government is always proudly announcing more and more loans for the farmers. This is not going to help the farmer but push him further into debt, the main cause of farmers’ suicides. The government should be directly accountable for improving the net incomes of farming households and this is how we will measure the performance of the government.  A National Farmers\\\’ Income Guarantee Act should be created which will assure a guaranteed income to farmers, tenants and sharecroppers by making farming remunerative.”
 
When asked about the performance of the agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, Mr Pankaj Bhushan of the Alliance of Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture said, “Sharad Pawar is under the influence of Monsanto. Instead of supporting the majority of the small farmers of our country, so many of whom have committed suicide because of debt, Pawar is openly promoting controversial GMOs. Even the government\\\’s own CICR has admitted that Bt cotton has failed but Pawar continues to push for this instead of supporting successful ecological farming models that are all over the country. He is anti farmer and anti national.”
 
“What we need is a secure market for our produce. Even if we increase productivity through various available technologies, where will we sell our crops? If we are given a market we can produce more than any GM in the world. Instead UPA is promoting free trade agreements, such as the EU-India FTA so that they can dump their produce in our country, pushing our local farmers out of business” said Yudhvir Singh of BKU.
 
Swami Agnivesh expressed his great contentment that at a time when a corrupt and anti people government continues to carry out its anti people agenda, it is a great sign that peoples movements are coming together to defend the rights of the common man and especially the Anna Datas. “It is a great shame for our country that we allow the suicides of our farmers and in fact deny that farmers’ suicides are going on. The parliament should have an emergency special session on the agrarian crisis.”
 
Chukki Nanjundaswamy of KRRS said, “The government has been sleeping, but this time we have come here from across the country and we will not leave Jantar Mantar unless they respond to our demands.”

Continue Reading

Previous Brutal atrocities by armed forces: Report
Next कलकत्‍ता: जहां डॉन भी बेज़ुबान है…

More Stories

  • Featured

Making Cuts In Implementation Of MGNREGA A Crime Against Constitution

16 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Tiger Death Highlights Strained Human-Wildlife Interactions In Assam

21 hours ago Shalini
  • Featured

Scientists And Monks Perform Last Rites For A Himalayan Glacier

22 hours ago Shalini

Recent Posts

  • Making Cuts In Implementation Of MGNREGA A Crime Against Constitution
  • Tiger Death Highlights Strained Human-Wildlife Interactions In Assam
  • Scientists And Monks Perform Last Rites For A Himalayan Glacier
  • Bihar Yearning For Change But The Election Is Wide Open
  • Shipwreck Spills Oil, Plastic & Legal Loopholes
  • As India’s Groundwater Runs Dry, The Calls For Reform Grow
  • ‘US Invite To Pak Army Chief Huge Diplomatic Setback For India’
  • Politics Based On Grievance Has A Long And Violent History In America
  • How Birds Are Taking A Hit From Microplastics Contamination
  • Kharge Reviews 11 Yrs Of NDA Govt, Says PM Made 33 Mistakes
  • Upholding The Law, SC Halts Amnesties For EIA Violators, Jolts Industry
  • Using Indian Languages When Reporting About The Environment
  • ‘Maximum Boasts, Minimum Achievements’: Congress Attacks Shah
  • On Navigating Privacy And Transparency In The Digital Age
  • Book Review: The Highs And Lows Of Looking For India’s Rare Birds
  • ‘Govt Has Stopped Talking About Present, Now Selling Dreams Of 2047’
  • Commentary: Education Is A Powerful Tool For Biodiversity Conservation
  • World Set To Lose 39% Of Glaciers, Says Study
  • ‘We Need Politics Connected With Reality, Not Economy For Select Capitalists’
  • How Trees Outside Forests Impact Well-Being Of Humans

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Making Cuts In Implementation Of MGNREGA A Crime Against Constitution

16 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Tiger Death Highlights Strained Human-Wildlife Interactions In Assam

21 hours ago Shalini
  • Featured

Scientists And Monks Perform Last Rites For A Himalayan Glacier

22 hours ago Shalini
  • Featured

Bihar Yearning For Change But The Election Is Wide Open

4 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Shipwreck Spills Oil, Plastic & Legal Loopholes

4 days ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Making Cuts In Implementation Of MGNREGA A Crime Against Constitution
  • Tiger Death Highlights Strained Human-Wildlife Interactions In Assam
  • Scientists And Monks Perform Last Rites For A Himalayan Glacier
  • Bihar Yearning For Change But The Election Is Wide Open
  • Shipwreck Spills Oil, Plastic & Legal Loopholes
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.