On the call of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), farmers will assemble at district headquarters throughout the country on May 10, the 160th anniversary of First War of Independence, 1857, to present appeal letters signed by thousands of farmers for the Chairman Rajya Sabha and Speaker Lok Sabha urging them to call a special session of Parliament to pass the private member bills on “Farmers Freedom from Indebtedness Bill 2018” and “Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Price for Agricultural Commodities Bill 2018”.
A massive signature campaign has been conducted in rural areas to press upon the Speaker Lok Sabha and Chairman Rajya Sabha that these are bills prepared by farmers of the country themselves, AIKSCC said.
In a meeting of farmers’ representatives on April 25, 2018 in New Delhi, main opposition parties and some NDA supporters have assured their support to the bills.
The bills obligate the Government to waive all loans of all peasants, including landless peasants, agricultural workers, share croppers, fishermen which include declaration of private loans as null and void and payment to the creditors by the Government without any recovery from the debtors.
The second bill obligates the Government to regulate and decrease the cost price of farm inputs including diesel, seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, machinery and equipments, to set up a Cost and Prices Commission in order to assess all the cost of production which shall include computing of paid up costs, family labour, rent of land, depreciation of capital inputs, interest and insurance costs designated as C2 costs, and to ensure through public and private purchasing agencies that the farmers get a guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) of C2 + 50 percent.
The Government of India, saddled with low revenue and high expenses has been bearing the burden of more than 6 lakh crore of corporate tax waivers every year most of which are foreign linked corporates. It has agreed to pay up for corporate NPAs worth 2.11 lakh crore recently. It has been investing heavily for industrial and commercial infrastructure. Surely it should invest in making farming by Indian peasants viable which will prop up the local markets and rejuvenate the sinking economy.
AIKSCC and the leaders from the political parties had met at the Parliament’s Annexie on April 25 and discussed the two bills clause by clause making relevant changes to the text.
On the occasion, the political leaders; Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party); former JD(U) leader, Sharad Yadav; Deependra Hooda (Congress); Dr. Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress); JP Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal); Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena); Nagendra Pradhan (Biju Janata Dal); Vijay Sai Reddy (YSR Congress); AR Rathar (J&K National Conference); Hannan Mollah (Communist Party of India -Marxist) and Jayant Chowdhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal) had met and discussed on the Bills. Apart from these political parties, Telugu Desham Party, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Ssamaj Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Janata Dal (S), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, Communist Party of India, CPI(ML) ND, CPI(ML) Liberation, SWP, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) had also given their written support.
To read more; Farmers’ Bills get support from 21 political parties
