BENGALURU: Agriculture may be among the few sectors that are able to beat the economic slowdown that was triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, but farmers across the state are up in arms against the government over amendments to Land Reforms and Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts.On Friday, a large rally was organised by the Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and other farmer organisations against the amendments passed by the state government through ordinances to the Land Reforms Act, APMC Act and labour laws.
Over 5,000 farmers from across Karnataka descended on the state capital to protest against the government on a day when the state legislature session started. After the march, the farmers sat on an overnight protest at the Freedom Park, demanding the government to reconsider its decision and protect the farm sector. Among those who took part in the protest were freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, Swaraj Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav, writer Devanuru Mahadeva and Justice H N Nagamohan Das.
Friday’s rally and the dharna is the culmination of farmers’ protests that were being held across the state over the past few weeks after the state government promulgated the ordinance to amend the land reforms act, allowing non-agriculturists to purchase agriculture lands and amending the APMC Act to allow private players to directly purchase produce from farmers. Farmers and agriculture experts see these changes as a major threat to the sector. “They have to pay a heavy price for these changes that impact the farm sector badly,” said former chairman of State Agriculture Price Commission Dr T N Prakash Kammardi.
Farmers to continue stir, call all-India bandh on Friday
The government’s efforts to allay the fears of farmers seem not to have met with any success, and the opposition Congress and the JDS too are putting pressure on the government in the ongoing legislative session to reconsider its decision.“The government claims it is pro-farmer, but no farmer was consulted when they decided to amend the acts,” said Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Karnataka Farmers organisation, who is spearheading the protest. “Farmers are against the ordinances and bills (Farm Bills by the Centre). The Central government and the state government are pushing the lives of farmers to the brink. Farmers across the country are angry,” he said.
“An all-India bandh has been called on Friday (September 25). We will see a protest against the attempt to turn Indian agriculture into company raj,” the organisers told media persons.Manjula, a farmer from Haveri, who is a part of the rally said, “We will never withdraw the protest until the government reconsiders its decision to amend the laws. The laws are pro-corporate, not pro-farmers as claimed by the government.”
With the changes in the APMC Act, farmers can sell their produce either at APMC yards or private yards. Companies can establish market yards, and purchase produce from farmers directly. The APMC committees will not have any control over trading outside the yards. They have to be licensed from the state committee, and can only use electronic weighing machines.However, the farmers’ concerns include not being consulted, besides the perceived threat of the APMC Act being diluted to help big firms. They also fear that the amendment would lead to inadequate mechanisms to protect farmers in case of disputes. In the long run, big firms will have full control over the agriculture sector and crop patterns, they feel.
Protest on a day when session begins
The day of the protests coincided with the first day of the Monsoon Session of the State Assembly where three contentious ordinances are set to be passed to turn them into laws. The three ordinances that were opposed by the protesters are Karnataka Land reforms (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 and Industrial Disputes and certain other laws (Amendment) ordinance 2020.
Traffic Impact
Traffic was thrown out of gear for about two hours on Sheshadri Road, Palace Road and Majestic on Monday after about three thousand farmers took a rally from KSR Railway Station to Freedom Park. The farmers threatened that they would seize the Vidhana Souda if CM don’t respond in positive way and dharana will be held till late night. Police stopped the farmers when they tried to move Vidhana Souda.
Soon after the farmers began the rally, the vehicles which were heading towards Corporation, KR Market, Shivajinagar and Sourth Bengaluru were stuck in traffic about two hours and the traffic was diverted on Race Course road for a while. More than 5,000 policemen were deployed to control the situation and senior policemen monitored the rally since large numbers of farmers blocked the roads for a while. Later they gathered at Freedom Park premise.