Time to focus on rural India, AIKS chief

Vijayawada: CPI national secretary and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) general secretary Atul Kumar Anjan said that it is time for governments to shift their focus to rural India and farmers with a slogan of 'Chalo Goan ke oar' (March towards Villages) for the development of country's economy.

Anjan, who is here to attend the 24th national congress of CPI, speaking to The Hans India said farmers are contributing more to GDP but are being neglected by the state and Central governments.

Citing the example of farmers agitation in Delhi against the farm laws, the CPI leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to withdraw the Acts with world focus on farmers agitation.

He said that the governments should waive off all the agricultural loans to protect the interests of farmers instead of waiving the loans of corporate sector. Agriculture sector was caught in severe crisis as the governments have been neglecting it and younger generations started leaving age old profession of cultivation. He said that the governments should give top priority to irrigation projects as farmers were incurring losses every year due to shortage of water and were being pushed into debt trap.

Stating that farmers played a key role during pre-independence and post-independence struggles, the Kisan Sabha leader said that government should come to the rescue of farmers at the present hour of crisis and make rural India prosperous. There is no alternative except to enrich farmers by introducing farmer-friendly policies by the government for the development of the country, he said.

Anjan said that as 70 per cent of population of our country depends on agriculture, which is major employment provider, the governments should concentrate on more employment generation in the sector.