4 lakh farmers have ended life in last 25 years: AIKS
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale said here on Sunday the neoliberal policies of 1991 had such a devastating impact on agriculture that a staggering four lakh farmers had committed suicide in the last 25 years.
Dig at Modi govt.
The Congress party had to take a fair share of the blame for the distress in the farm sector, he said and called upon the Modi government as the ‘most anti-farmer’ in Indian history. Addressing a State-level farmers’ workshop organised by the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham (APRS) at the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Bhavan, Mr. Dhawale, who led the famous ‘long march of farmers’ in Maharashtra, said the plight of farmers had gone from bad to worse over the years as the successive governments were ignorant of the dangers of pushing the primary sector to the brink of disaster.
Both the Congress and the BJP had been promising payment of 50% over the cost of production as the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for various crops but it never translated into reality because they were not sincere in giving what was due to the farmers. Mr. Dhawale said dispossession of land had been the biggest threat faced by farmers.
SEZs
The Congress governments acquired huge tracts of fertile land in the name of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and the Modi-led dispensation was doing the same through the much-hyped industrial corridors.
The beleaguered farmers had to accept whatever was given to them as compensation for parting with their land. The AIKS leader said the Modi government doled out crores of rupees to the capitalists in the form of loans, a major portion of which turned Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and the likes of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who duped banks were roaming freely abroad as little efforts were made to bring them back.
Mr. Dhawale exhorted the farmers across A.P. to join the nationwide ‘Jail Bharo’ agitation scheduled for August 9 and a massive rally-cum-10-crore signature campaign on September 5 to mount pressure on the Modi government to give up its anti-farmer policies.
