The eighth national convention of Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangh has demanded the government to decide the minimum support price (MSP) of agriculture produces on the basis of their cost of production and not as a policy matter. The convention clearly said that farmers should be given profitable prices of their produces. About 5000 delegates from all districts of the country participated in the convention. The convention was inaugurated by Prof. M.C. Varshneya, Vice Chacnellor of Anand Agriculture University of Gujarat. Thakur Sankata Prasad Singh addressed the concluding ceremony. The three-day meeting concluded on February 24 in Surat. Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS and guide of the Kisan Sangh, Shri Sureshrao Ketkar also guided the delegates. Kisan Sangh general secretary Shri Baba Saheb Takwale and orgnising secretary Shri Dinesh Kulkarni were also present on the occasion.
In a resolution adopted at the meeting, the Kisan Sangh said despite rapid growth in the economy there is no improvement in the condition of farmers. ?The government took various steps during the last about seven decades, but the situation has been deteriorating day-by-day. The suicides by farmers prove it now. The government has concentrated on increasing the production of foodgrains but never thought about increasing the prices of the agriculture produces. This is a fact that the farmers never got profitable prices of their produces. Profit to the farmers has never been the objective of the MSP policy adopted by the government for several decades. The words mentioned in the draft of the Fifth Five Year Plan that the economic structure would collapse if the fair prices of agriculture produces were given, indicate to the real intention of the government,? the resolution said further appreciating the proposal of writing off loans of the farmers. The Sangh however criticised the policy of first making the farmers sick by not granting profitable prices of their produces and later granting them loan which forced them to even committ suicide in some cases, and later writing off the loan. There is a need to adopt the policies in the agriculture sector that the farmers do not need to take loans and it could happen only if they are provided profitable prices of their produces.
In another resolution, the Kisan Sangh stressed on the need to acquire only the barren land for SEZ and other developmental purposes. In the cases when the land is needed to be acquired for SEZ etc, it should be acquired under the new law and not under the existing Land Acquisition Act. The government should also make arrangement for the employment of the farmers whose agriculture land is acquired for any such purposes.
The Kisan Sangh also criticised the proposed Intellectual Property Agreement with America and said India does not need it at all. Under this Rs 350 crore agreement, which will be for three years, there is a move to exchange expertise on various issues. The resolution said the various departments of the government like Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, UGC, etc., already have sufficient provisions for foreign trips for the scientists and there is no need of any new agreement.
The convention also strongly appealed to the government not to promote the genetically modified seeds and keep them prohibited. The convention appealed to the farmers not to use such seeds at all.
(FOC)
