Shivamogga, Jan 15: As part of nationwide ‘Jai Kisan Movement’ launched by the Swaraj Abhiyan of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, a programme was held in Kagodu village of Shivamogga district on Sunday. Several eminent social activists and farmers took part in the meeting.
“We have been seeing every political party holding rallies in the name of farmers, but it's sad that no one is actually reaching out to the farmers to understand their distress and plight. The Swaraj Abhiyan has started a mass-contact program, where the volunteers in every state will reach out to farmers to understand their problems and establish a dialogue with them,” stated a release issued by the state unit of Swaraj Abhiyan.
Over the next two months, the volunteers will cover around one lakh villages nationally and around 10,000 villages in Karnataka to tell the farming community and villagers about the fraud and cheating being done on them by successive governments. Swaraj Abhiyan aims to become a strong voice against the injustice done to farmers by anyone and everyone who has come to power, the release stated.
Swaraj Abhiyan has submitted its suggestions to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Land Bill demanding withdrawal of the anti-farmer provisions brought through the second amendment bill of 2015, it said.
The core issues of farmers plight is the fact that farming as a profession is not profitable. Whatever be the inflation, whatever be the general price rise of commodities, seeds, fertilizers, urea, etc, crop prices are never increased in similar proportion. Swaraj Abhiyan has demanded that a Minimum Income Act for Farmers be passed so that they are not compelled to take suicide as a means to free themselves from the burden of loans, the release said.
The demands of Jai Kisan Movement include: i) Withdrawal of the land acquisitions second amendment bill 2015, ii) Demand for Farmers’ Minimum Income Guarantee Act, iii) Comprehensive, assured and adequate compensation against natural calamity.
Farmers who wish to be a part of the Jai Kisan movement during mass-contact program will send pots of soil, "kalasha" from their village. Thousands of "kalasha" from across the country will be sent to the Parliament in New Delhi.
In the second phase of Jai Kisan movement, a "tractor-march" to the parliament by farmers led by Yogendra Yadav has been planned. The march will start on August 1 from Punjab and reach Delhi moving through Haryana and Uttar-Pradesh. The march will culminate on August 10, during the monsoon session of Parliament with "kalasha" from thousands of farmers belonging to villages from all parts of the country presented before the parliament.
Swaraj Abhiyan has released a miss-call number 011-4666-6662 for people willing to be a part of the Jai Kisan Movement.
Yogendra Yadav has said on the launching of Jai Kisan movement, "This is a movement of the farmers, but not just for farmers, nor merely by the farmers. We also aim to involve urban citizens, especially youth. This is a movement for reshaping the country's future."
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