RAICHUR: On Day 44 of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi met farmer groups from Raichur and other parts of North Karnataka at Gillesugur village near here on Friday. Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, MLA MB Patil and Yogendra Yadav were present at the meeting. The attendees paid tributes to Late Sardar Paramjeet Singh, a key organiser of the farmers protest at Singhu Border, and who passed away on Friday in Karnal, Haryana. Singh was part of the yatra for two weeks in Kerala and Karnataka.
Chamraj Malipatil, a farmer leader, demanded that a law be brought to ban the sale of agricultural produce below the MSP. The government neither procures adequate quantity nor purchases on time, forcing farmers to sell their produce in the free market at prices lower than their input costs and much below MSP, he added. He said the Tungabhadra dam is covered with silt up to 33 per cent of its capacity, and the government should explore ways to desilt the dam.
Prabhakar Patil, another farmer leader, said farming is becoming difficult because of rising input costs. To a query by Rahul on the efficacy of insurance in case of crop failure, farmers said private insurance companies are colluding with government officials to reduce or delay payouts.When Rahul asked what was their net profit in the past 10 years, farmers replied that they are barely breaking even.
He said Congress had proposed a scheme called NYAY in its 2019 election manifesto that guaranteed an annual transfer of Rs 72,000 for every poor family. If extended to farmers, it can create a support system for them, he added.