CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and All India Kisan Sabha vice president S. Ramachandran Pillai (SRP) on Friday called for a united effort at the national level to resist the ‘anti-democratic and anti-farmer policies’ of the BJP-led government. The three farm Bills introduced by the Centre recently abysmally fall short of legal and constitutional principles, he added.
He said the Bills would practically hand over the vulnerable agriculture sector to Indian and foreign corporates, Mr. Ramachandran Pillai said, inaugurating a sit-in outside Raj Bhavan organised by the Samyuktha Karshaka Samithi as part of a nationwide stir against the legislation.
“'The decision to promote contract farming, for instance, will estrange farmers from farmlands and markets. Farmers will be relegated to the position of corporate labourers,” he said.
In its hurried effort to get the Bills cleared by Parliament, the BJP government has disregarded parliamentary procedures and attempted to use powers which, in reality, it does not possess. The Centre is attempting to impose its anti-people, neo-liberal policies on the nation under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic, he alleged. “'It is true that there is a crisis in the sector. A majority of the farmers do not find farming a profitable venture. Agricultural costs have risen. But the flawed policies of the government are responsible for the crisis,” he said.
Minimum support price
Mr. Pillai drew attention to the M. S. Swaminathan committee recommendation that the minimum support price (MSP) should be fixed at 50% more than the weighted average of the production cost. “But the Centre has declined to implement it. No steps have been taken to increase productivity or ensure a fair price to farmers. These are the steps necessary to protect them,”' he said.
Protests were organised under the aegis of the Samyuktha Karshaka Samithi in more than 250 centres in the State.
Samyuktha Karshaka Samithi chairman Sathyan Mokeri presided.
