Hyderabad: Samkukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), along with 540 farmers’ organisations announced a nationwide protest on July 9 against the Centre’s ‘anti-farmer and anti-working class policies’.
The announcement was made by former agriculture minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and national council member of SKM Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao at Basheerbagh Press Club on Thursday, July 3.
Addressing the media persons, Rao said that the Modi government’s move to enter a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Trump administration rings alarm bells to India’s farming community.
“According to a NITI Aayog report, the Centre plans to remove the import duty on agricultural produce from the United States. This may give a pretty picture of prices coming down, but in reality, it benefits the corporate giants,” he opined.
“Not just agricultural farmers but dairy farmers will be severely impacted by the Free Trade Agreement,” he said.
He said that the biggest reason for the crisis in farming is the low Minimum Support Price (MSP) given to farmers for their crops. “Unless the governments implement the C2 + 50% formula, suggested by the Father of Green Revolution, Dr MS Swaminathan, where farmers are paid 50 percent more than what it costs them to grow the crop, problems will not end,” he said.
Quoting a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Rao said that between 2000 and 2017, Indian farmers lost around Rs 45 lakh crore, because they did not get the fair MSP. “Between 2020 and 2023, they lost another Rs 9 lakh crore for the same reason,” he said.
On farm loans, Rao alleged that 40 percent of farmers, including 90 percent of tenant farmers, do not get loan sanctions. “This forces them to seek loans at high interest from moneylenders, often ending up unable to pay back,” he said.
He called out the Modi government for showing a step-motherly treatment to struggling farmers while at the same time conveniently waiving off Rs 25 lakh crore bad debts of 8,000 corporates.
He appealed to the people from all walks of life to participate in the all-India general strike.
