Leaders of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham on Thursday urged the government to relax norms for issue of white ration cards to farmers in the backward and drought-prone districts of the State.
In a statement, sangham president Y. Kesav Rao and general secretary P. Peddireddy referred to the guidelines for issue of ration cards and said it was decided to deny white ration cards to the farmers who owned 10 acres of land. They said drought and the resultant migration and suicides by farmers was a perennial issue in nine districts of the State. The government should consider relaxation of this rule for farmers of these districts, they said.
They also wanted the government to initiate steps for immediate release of compensation for crop damage, due for payment to farmers for last two years, input subsidy and the amount due towards subsidies on maize and groundnut crops. They said farmers were also waiting for crop insurance money and effective measures from the government side to ensure that the prices of crops like mirchi did not crash.
Stir on February 13
In protest against the ‘raw deal’ meted out to the farm sector in the 2020-21 Union Budget recently presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Akhila Bharata Kisan Coordination Committee called for a nation-wide agitation on February 13, they said.
Pointing to the fact that the budget was silent on remunerative price to the farmers and on farm loan waiver, the leaders said the impact of the proposed protest programme should percolate down to the mandal and village level.
