2024 polls: Non-political farm bodies to seek support for national farmers agenda
Led by Shtakari Sangatana, the country’s non-political agricultural organizations have decided to come together and ask the political parties to support the ‘National Farmers’ Agenda’ in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
We have a common minimum program to support any political party in the 2024 election. We seek economic, marketing, and scientific freedom. We also want the total Farm loan He has started visiting various states,” said Chitkari Sangatana President Anil Ghannout, “urging all agricultural organizations to come together.
Striving for economic, marketing and technological freedom, these organizations want the incoming government to reintroduce agrarian reforms, which were withdrawn in November 2021 after protests by a section of farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
quid pro quo support
Farmers want to have the latest technology available to them, including the freedom to farm Genetically modified crops Such as cotton, corn and brinjal.
The Farmers’ Union will reach out to national and regional political parties to gain their support for their National Farmers’ Agenda. “We will, in turn, support the parties that agree to our agenda,” Ghannout said. “We will demand a link MGNREGA Program (Rural Jobs) With all agricultural activities to reduce our input costs. We will demand tax concessions for all agricultural inputs, including tractors, and waive GST,” said Chingal Reddy, advisor to the Farmers Federation of India (CFAI), one of the organizations supporting the national farmers’ agenda.
Also read: Did MGNREGA make a difference?
He said farmers will seek assurances from politicians to meet the demand, adding that they will also look for uninterrupted water and electricity supply along with 10,000 rupees per acre on the lines of Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
Loan waiver
“We have the right to ask for forgiveness from the loan because farmers are affected by political decisions such as: Wheat export ban. From around Rs 3,500 quintals at the beginning of the year, wheat prices have fallen to the minimum support price level of Rs 2,125 now,” Ghannout, who was one of the three members nominated by the Supreme Court to report on farm reforms, said.
The report was not disclosed by the Supreme Court, although Ghannout held a press conference in Delhi last year to inform the media that the report recommended continuing reforms with some modifications.
Apart from CFAI, the Sanghatana, which has a political wing called the Swatantra Bharat Party, has the support of the Farmers’ Union, which is active in Karnataka. “We will work to advance the farmers’ agenda and discuss it at a collection level. We will draw up a charter of demands that will be put up at the entrance of every village,” Reddy said.
He said that it is likely that the associations will ask the political parties to make the person who handles the agricultural portfolio a deputy prime minister.
Karnataka Farmers Federation President Kurupur Shankumar said farmers will pressure political parties to make MSP compulsory as per recommendations of the MS Swaminathan committee. “We will seek a continuous supply of energy for at least 12 hours since our crops have been attacked by animals,” he said.
Other demands include modification Crop insurance system To include all crops, remove CIBIL scores for agricultural loans and carry out allied agricultural activities in rural areas.
On opposition to agricultural reforms, Ghannout said he is ready to talk with those opposed to reforms and convince them of their agenda.
Reddy hoped that they could gather all of the non-political farmers’ organizations under one umbrella. “Our only concern is for the politically connected farmers’ organizations to turn a hurdle in gaining support for the agenda,” he said.