Govt "indifferent" towards suffering farmers: Modi refused to meet Gujarat ministers on cotton price issue

Three non-political farmers’ organizations, Saurashtra Khedut Ladat Samiti, Khedut Samaj Gujarat, and Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, have come together to ask the Gujarat government to add “bonus package” to the minimum support price (MSP) being offered to farmers by the Government of India for different farmers’ products, especially cotton, in order to protect them from being ruined. They have declared, if this is not done, they would be forced to "disrupt" the Vibrant Gujarat Business Summit, to take place on January 11-12 in Gandhinagar to attract foreign investment.
Forming Sanyukt Khedut Sangharsh Samiti to press their demand, their leaders told mediapersons in Ahmedabad that such “bonus is offered by several other Indian states, but as for Gujarat, it has “remained indifferent towards it.”
One of them, Sagar Rabari, told reporters, “In Saurashtra, the farmers are being offered just about Rs 650 to Rs 750 per 20 kg as against the MSP of Rs 850. The marketing yards have put up bills declaring they will not buy up cotton. Farmers producing cotton are on the brink. Majority of them had taken loan from informal financiers at a very high rate, anywhere between 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent per month, to cotton, hoping that, like last year, they would earn a good amount, but this has happened.”
“Most farmers are unable to pay back their debt, pushing them into distress. On the other hand, the Gujarat government is failing to take any concrete step”, said Rabari. Newspersons were told that at least two senior ministers of the Gujarat government, Nitin Patel and Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, had gone to represent before Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “solve” the problem.
“They waited for two hours. Modi didn’t meet them. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) finally asked them to go and see the Union agriculture minister. The minister met them, but for just 45 seconds. They handed over their representation to the minister and returned empty handed”, the leaders said, quoting a senior BJP MLA.
“All this is happening at a time when farmers, especially cotton growers, are being pushed to the brink. Four of them have so far committed suicide, two over the last fortnight – in village Dharai near Chotila and village Fatehpur near Patdi. An impression is gaining ground that the Gujarat government is least interested in farmers’ plight. There is an industrial policy, an electronics policy, an agro-industries policy, but no agricultural policy”, Rabari said.

In a statement, the Samiti said, “The Government of Gujarat is going to spend crores of rupees on the Vibrant Gujarat summits at a time when cotton and groundnut farmers of Gujarat are forced to commit suicide on account of high input costs and low market yield for their produce. There is a race to welcome the big corporate with red carpet, but the stat government has neither money nor words of comfort to offer to farmers’ distraught families.”
The statement further said, “In the changed politico-economic environment, the political class considers backing the large corporates as profitable; the agricultural sector which employs even today nearly 70% of the work force and which provides the food security for the nation is not a priority. While other states are giving bonus over and above the MSP declared by the Central government, the Gujarat government is merely indulging in cheating farmers.”
The Samiti released a four-point programme before the media, including increasing of MSP to Rs 1200 per 20 kg for cotton and Rs 1000 per 20 kg for groundnut, plus a bonus of Rs 200 per kg; making it legally mandatory that all public auctions for farm products are above MSP; increase in electricity quota for farmers and regular power supply of 12 hours daily; make arrangements to expedite the crop insurance claims by October 31 every year; and a written assurance of not to decommand the Narmada command area.

Comments

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Whither Jeffrey Sachs-supported research project which 'created' Gujarat model of development for Modi?

Even as Donald Trump was swearing-in as US President, a friend forwarded to me a YouTube video in which veteran world renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs participated and sought an answer as to why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "afraid to fly" despite being invited to Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony. This took my memory to 2003, when I -- as representative of the Times of India -- had a short tet-a-tat along with a couple of other reporters with Sachs in the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

Busy taking books to the needy, this rationalist exposes miracles in a superstition-infested Gujarat society

I knew his name as a campaigner against the sheer wastage of the large amounts of ghee brought by devotees from across India for a major religious ceremony conducted every year in Rupal village, near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, on the ninth day of Navratri. I had seen him at several places during my visits to different NGO meetings as well as some media conferences.

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

Search This Blog