MYSURU: Federation of Farmers Association president and Samyukta Kisan Morcha national co-convener Kuruburu Shantakumar said a farmers’ awareness rally from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir, demanding the implementation of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) Guarantee Act for agricultural produce, will be launched in the first week of February.
Shantakumar said farmers have been protesting at the Delhi borders for years, repeatedly warning the government, but no concrete action has been taken.
“When national convener and farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal undertook a 131-day hunger strike over the non-implementation of the MSP guarantee, the Supreme Court constituted a committee under the chairmanship of retired High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh and directed it to submit a report to resolve the issue. The committee submitted its report in favour of the farmers.
Similarly, the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture has also submitted a report supporting the implementation of the MSP Guarantee Act,” he said. He said these developments were achievements resulting from the sustained agitation of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, but alleged that the Central government has failed to act on them.
“Therefore, there is a need to warn the government and create awareness among farmers. Farmers across the country are incurring losses of nearly Rs 15 lakh crore every year due to the absence of an MSP guarantee law. The farmers’ awareness yatra will begin from Kanyakumari on February 7. It will travel for about 40 days, collect signatures from farmers in villages along the route, and culminate in Kashmir,” he said.
Shantakumar added that a massive national farmers’ convention will be held at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on March 19. “Following this, a memorandum along with the signatures collected from farmers across the country will be submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.