Ongole: Delhi agitation brought dignity to farmers

Ongole: The agitation against three farm laws at Delhi border by the farmers brought respect and dignity to the community, opined the leaders of various farmers' organisations.

They participated in the 119th birth anniversary celebrations of Chaudhary Charan Singh, on National Farmers' Day, here on Thursday. They said the untiring movement by the farmers made Prime Minister Narendra Modi render apologies and repeal the agriculture laws.

But important demands like guaranteed minimum support price and withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 are still pending, they noted.

Prakasam Zilla Abhivruddhi Vedika President Chunduri Rangarao, Acharya Ranga Kisan Samstha general secretary, former Agriculture Minister of Andhra Pradesh Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao, Jatiya Kisan Sabha president Ravula Venkaiah and others spoke on various issues like 'Need of Guaranteed MSP- Possibilities, Measures to be taken in cultivation, advantages and disadvantages of World Trade Organization to India etc.

The speakers opined that minimum support price existed ever since Lal Bahadur Sastri was the Prime Minister, but the prices were not increased relatively. They said that the MSPs of various crops were increased only by 23 per cent in the last few decades, but the prices of commodities, tools and other expenditures were increased by more than 120 per cent. They criticised that Modi assured to double the income of farmers but failed to provide at least the MSP offered by former PM Manmohan Singh.

The speakers mentioned the AgMark report that the farmers lost Rs 45 lakh crore in a year as they failed to get the MSP. They announced that the farmers are not requesting the loan waiver, but they require Debt Relief Act as in Kerala, quality seeds act etc. They also demanded the governments to provide pensions to farmers, complete health insurance programmes, etc.

The speakers said, "The farmers are also paying taxes heavily by purchasing various agriculture needs and demanding for MSP from that money only." They mentioned that the governments are not recognising women farmers and their contributions. They demanded constitutional guarantee of MSP as per the formula, cost of the crop and 50% of profit thereon, suggested by MS Swaminathan Commission. They observed that the Andhra Pradesh is in the top position in the list of States comparing loan burden on farmers and in second position from the bottom in the list regarding farmers' income. They demanded the State and Central governments to take measures to better the situation of farmers.