Time to amend land policies : India Agricultural Workers Union

Time to amend land policies : India Agricultural Workers Union
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Highlights

Time to amend land policies, All India Agricultural Workers Union, Land Policies. The All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) on Friday threatened to launch a national-level protest if the Union and the State governments failed to amend the land policies.

  • All India Agricultural Workers Union threatens protests
  • Farm workers’ body accuse govt of helping corporate giants
  • AIAWU to hold all-India conference in Warangal in Dec

The All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) on Friday threatened to launch a nationallevel protest if the Union and the State governments failed to amend the land policies. Under the present policy, lands were being taken away from the poor and Dalits and handed over to corporate and multinational firms. Detailing the proceedings of the three-day general council meeting of AIAWU, which concluded on Friday, the members expressed concern over the government's land policies and said it was in support of corporate giants, while uprooting lakhs of farmers from the agricultural sector, thus creating a crisis in the sector.

They also observed that the number of landless households in the country was also found to be increasing as a result of the adverse trend. “We demand passage of a comprehensive central legislation for agricultural labour which has been on the cards since 1980s but has never been passed by the successive governments at the Centre, despite the fact that a similar legislation was passed in Kerala in 1974 and in Tripura in 1986,” said Suneet Chopra of AIAWU, Punjab. He urged the State governments to come to the aid of the poor and downtrodden by distributing land, and cited the efforts of the governments of Tripura and Kerala which distributed over 95,000 acres and 11,000 acres respectively under the Forest Rights Act.

The council members felt that the World Agricultural Forum Conference held in the city recently had opened doors to the corporate farming in the State. This move would eventually push the small farmers to debts and force them to sell their lands. “Certain agro giants have already captured the sector of seeds in the country, and the latest conference held is the next step to take further control of the rest of agricultural sector,” said Sarangadhar Paswan, an AIAWU member. B Venkat, the vice-president of AIAWU, felt that the relief measures and estimation of losses during the recent floods in AP, Odisha and other affected areas were inadequate and incorrect. “We demand that the affected farmers should be supported with additional funds,” he said.

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