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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers propose Bills on loan waiver, fair prices in their own 'parliament' -Vineet Kumar

Farmers propose Bills on loan waiver, fair prices in their own 'parliament' -Vineet Kumar

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published Published on Nov 23, 2017   modified Modified on Nov 23, 2017
-Down to Earth

More than 180 farmer organisations from across the country proposed Bills related to debt waiver and fair crop prices in a mock parliament 

On the second day of a protest organised by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), farmers from more than 180 farmer organisations across the country proposed a bill each on debt waiver and fair prices for crops.

For two days, thousands of farmers had gathered at Sansad Marg to participate in Kisan Mukti Sansad, a mock parliament. Raju Shetty, MP and president of Swabhimani Shetkaari Sangathan said that the bills will be presented in the parliament after taking feedback from all stakeholders.

The Kisan Mukti Sansad began soon after a journey of more than 10,000 km was completed by AIKSCC in 19 states.

Kiran Vissa, an activist who works on farmers' issues with AIKSCC said that farmers are facing massive losses and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to keep the promise of fixing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at production cost plus 50 per cent. He added that MSP is not assured for all crops, and that for many crops, the MSP does not even cover the cost of cultivation. For instance, while the cost of producing ragi per quintal is Rs 2,351, the declared MSP is Rs 1,900.
 
In one its previous reportage, Down To Earth observed that in the last three years, the increase in MSP for wheat and paddy has been 4-5 per cent, much less than the inflation rate.

Yogendra Yadav, leader of Swaraj Abhiyan said that farmers have been pushed into an economic, ecological and existential crisis and these two bills are emergency measures, which need to be implemented immediately.

Farmers have already lost Rs 6,283 crore this season as of November 7 and are expected to lose Rs 35,968 crore due to insufficient MSP, according to AIKSCC. In fact, going by Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, farmers will lose Rs 2 lakh crores in just one season of Kharif 2017-18. In such a scenario, doubling farmers’ income by 2020 will become more unlikely. 

Key demands of The Farmers’ (Right To Assured Price For Agricultural Produce) Bill, 2017
 
* Cost of production should be according to the Ramesh Chand Committee (March 2015) recommendations and labour time spent on each crop.
* Declare MSP for all crops and farm produce. MSP should be fixed at no less than one and half time the real cost of production.
* Reduce cost of cultivation through appropriate subsidies, input price regulation, production incentives and support for low or zero cost cultivation methods.
* Ensure sufficient funds to implement government’s statutory obligation under MNREGA with wages not below the minimum wages and a social audit of implementation.

Key demands of the Debt Bill 2017:
 
* Immediate Debt Relief: waive existing loans and protect farmers from future debt trap by setting up a Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission.  
* Immediate waiver of entire outstanding agricultural loans of all farmers. Waiver should cover all categories of banks.
* Debt freedom to be extended to settlement, swapping and waiving of non-institutional loans of farmers including sharecroppers, tenants, agricultural labour, adivasi and women farmers.
* Effective disaster relief and universal and zero premium crop insurance.
* Transition from high input agriculture to low input sustainable methods.
* Reform banking systems to ensure that priority sector agri-lending goes to small farmers and their collectives rather than agri-business companies and city dwellers.

Please click here to read more.

Down to Earth, 22 November, 2017, http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/thousands-of-farmers-propose-bills-in-their-own-parliament-59205


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