Farmers leader Kurubur Shanthakumar holding a meeting in Mysuru on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), which is spearheading an agitation for the welfare of farmers, will be submitting a memorandum to the Opposition MPs on July 8 seeking the introduction of a private members’ bill demanding a law on Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee and complete waiver of farm loans.
The president of the Federation of Karnataka Farmers’ Associations Kurubur Shanthakumar, who is also the co-ordinator of the South Indian states for Samkyukta Kisan Morcha (NP), said they will be submitting a memorandum to all the Opposition MPs in Karnataka also on July 8 reminding them of their pre-poll manifesto that promised a law on MSP guarantee and farm loan waiver.
Even though the BJP returned to power, Mr. Shanthakumar said the Opposition MPs, if they have commitment to their pre-poll assurance, will introduce a private members’ bill on the two poll promises they had made. He said the farmers from states surrounding the national capital had gathered for a peaceful protest seeking a law on MSP guarantee and farm loan waiver, but the government had brutally attacked them. He warned the government against taking the farmers’ struggle lightly.
The Centre’s decision to increase MSP for 14 crops was merely an eye-wash and did not benefit farmers, Mr. Shanthakumar said while urging the Union government to instead consider bringing in a law that guarantees MSP.
He criticised the Centre for bringing down the import duty on crude palm oil and soybean oil used for cooking to 5.5%, facilitating the Adani-owned company import cooking oil worth several lakh crores. Such a decision by the Centre, Mr. Shanthkumar alleged, had caused a huge loss to local coconut farmers.
He pointed out that the States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh had announced ₹3,100 per quintal as support price for paddy, but the support price announced by the Centre was just ₹2,320 per quintal.
Mr. Shanthakumar also referred to the decision of the Telangana government to waive farm loans of ₹2 lakh besides provide farmers an incentive of ₹15,000 per acre per year. But, the Karnataka government has stopped the ₹4,000 Kisan Samman assistance that used to be given to the farmers.
Even though the State government has claimed that it has increased the price of milk to pay support price to the cattle farmers, Mr. Shanthakumar claimed that the ₹5 per litre support price given to cattle farmers was due since the last 8 months. He urged the Government to immediately release the dues to cattle farmers amounting to ₹800 crore immediately.
Mr. Shanthakumar, who is also the president of State Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, said the farmers will hold an awareness rally in front of Bannari sugar mill on July 18 to demand the payment of an additional ₹150 per tonne as announced by the government last year before starting the crushing operations for the ensuing year.
