NEW DELHI: Even as state governments join the bandwagon of election-time farm loan waivers, there are larger interests of farmers that remain unaddressed. A farmers’ association has now prepared their own manifesto for the government, demanding identification and registration of all real cultivators and agrarian labourers, social security and right to land and livelihood.
“We have been reading and hearing all the criticism by experts. Whether one supports loan waivers or not, farm sector distress is for real.
It is like being in a job without getting enough salary to sustain a family. Unfortunately, neither state governments nor critics talk to us before taking a decision or giving a verdict,” said Chand Singh, a sugarcane farmer and member of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee.
While farmers are happy with loan waivers, they feel agrarian distress goes beyond loan waivers. And that is the reason why farmers have prepared their own manifesto that goes beyond loan waivers.
“While many parties now put loan waivers in their manifestoes, there is no vision for the whole agrarian crisis. That is why we have prepared our own manifesto. It seeks to prepare a database of farmers, timely payment of MSP and insurance against natural calamities that favours the farmer and not just insurance firms.
It seeks a sound social security net that do not force us to commit suicide if crops fail,” Singh said.
With the election season on, farmers said they hope the political parties to take their manifesto more seriously.