The official programme of Farmers’ Day that was being celebrated by the district administration on Monday was marred by protests by a section of farmers who objected to lack of information pertaining to the event.
Farmers’ Day or Kisan Diwas is celebrated every year to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh who was also a farmers’ leader. The event is marked by discussing salient issues pertaining to the agriculture sector and the farming community.
However, a section of the farmers who were holding a parallel meeting to mark the event were peeved when they learnt that an official meeting was also on at Curzon Park. They rushed to the venue and raised slogans against the authorities for keeping them in the dark about the event.
Atahalli Devaraj of the Sugarcane Cultivators Association said the day should be conducted in a more meaningful manner by inviting progressive farmers. It cannot be an indoor event conducted by officials in the company of a handful of invitees, he said.
Taking exception to the failure of the organisers in publicising the event, the farmers said the programme will be more meaningful and sincere if it was conducted to take stock of the crisis plaguing the agricultural sector and conceive solutions for the same. Some of the officials admitted that it was a low-key event due to lack of budgetary support and promised the farmers to write to the government and hold it in a bigger and more meaningful manner in future. The protesting farmers relented and dispersed..
Later, the official programme continued and there were technical sessions pertaining to various issues related to agriculture, marketing, legal issues related to fertilizers and pesticides etc. Mysuru ZP CEO K. Jyothi, ADC Poornima, Joint Director of Agriculture Mahanteshappa and others were present.
‘Solve problems’
Meanwhile, another section of farmers assembled at the Kuvempu Park near Gun House and observed a minute’s silence in memory of fellow farmers who had committed suicide due to increasing agricultural debt. They also paid tributes to farmer leaders like M.D. Nanjundaswamy, K.S. Puttanaiah, and Sundaresh.
Kurubur Shanthakumar, President of the Sugarcane Cultivators Association, said nearly 2 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the country during the last 10 years and the successive governments have turned a blind eye to their predicament. He said celebrations will be meaningful only if it resulted in solutions to their compounding problems.
