Farmers warn of agitation over loan waiver, call Sikar bandh on Sept 7
Farmers’ organisations and the Congress warned of agitations in Rajasthan, demanding waiver of loans and crop purchase at minimum support price.
Thousands of farmers took out a rally in Sikar town, about 120km from Jaipur after holding a sit-in on Monday under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha, affiliated to the CPI-M. Association leaders addressed a rally on the Sikar mandi premises on Tuesday.
“Our main demands are complete farm loan waiver and implementation of Swaminathan Committee report,” CPI-M leader and former MLA Pemaram told HT.
“We will be organising similar agitation in other districts including Bikaner, Churu, Ganganagar and also in Jaipur. Our agitation will intensify if the government doesn’t agree to our demand,” he said.
The association called for Sikar bandh (shutdown) on September 7, claiming support of the business community.
During the rally in Sikar, the farmers took out a mock ‘funeral procession’ of the chief minister to attract the government’s attention to their problems. The agitation resulted in traffic jams that lasted for hours.
The Congress plans to launch an agitation next month in support of farmers. “We had expected the Prime Minister to announce loan waiver for farmers in Rajasthan during his Udaipur visit, but that did not happen,” state Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma told HT.
“The state government has also not taken any steps to alleviate farmers’ distress, even though more than 70 farmers have committed suicide since the BJP government came to power. We will also launch an agitation next month.”
Ruling out loan waiver, the state government has announced a one-time 50% relaxation on interest on loans. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje has also announced a loan scheme with 2% interest rate to encourage farmers to store their produce in cooperative godowns.
The farmers are, however, worried over delay in crop purchase at minimum support price (MSP). Kisan Mahapanchayat, another farmers’ association, demanded that the government immediately start purchase of crops, such as moong, urad, bajra and makka, at minimum support price.
“We have started giving memorandum to the district administration across the state and want the government to start purchase at MSP, failing which we will launch an agitation,” Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat told HT.
The Kisan Mahapanchayat had launched ‘gaon bandh’ (village shutdown) for a day in July that had hit the supply of milk and vegetables.
In June this year, RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) had a showdown with the government, but called off its agitation after receiving an assurance from the agriculture minister. A spate of farmers’ suicides in the Kota region in June and July spurred demands for loan waiver and raising the minimum support price.