Yavatmal (Maharashtra): In view of the unending saga of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday urged the Centre to provide Rs 1 lakh crore to tackle the agrarian crises in the state and rein in deaths in farmlands in the country.
In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman – who will present the Union Budget 2024-2025 in Parliament on July 22 – and copy to PM Narendra Modi, SS(UBT)’s farmer face Kishore Tiwari has proposed a 16-point charter of demands which can bring succor to the tillers all over.
“We request the FM and PM to consider the demands positively… At least 620 farmers have ended their lives in the past six months in the state and more than 27,300 have committed suicide since 2001. Hence we have made a demand for a decent amount in the budgetary allocation for farmers and taking up an Integrated West Vidarbha Agricultural Welfare Programme,” Tiwari said in the letter.
Elaborating, he said that the western Vidarbha comprises Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal districts famous since 1846 for its ‘white gold cash crop’ or dryland cotton farming.
However, since 1998 when the agriculture crisis started and farmers started ending their lives from 2001, the then NDA government of PM AB Vajpayee took serious note of the agrarian issues.
Later, the UPA government of PM Manmohan Singh appointed the National Farmers Commission headed by Dr. MS Swaminathan, who visited Vidarbha and recommended long term solutions.
“However, the then government preferred aid packages and loan waivers which failed to serve the basic purpose owing to huge corruption at lower levels and the problems of cotton-soybean farmers did not end. The NDA headed by PM Modi promised to address the core issues of costs, crop, credit in 2014, but it had little impact and the ‘genocide’ continued in farmlands,” Tiwari said.
Against this backdrop, Tiwari put forth the key 16-points elaborately which he claimed can resolve the agriculture crisis and also arrest farmer suicides.
They are: Reduce cultivation costs by addressing soil-water problems and input price regulator; Fair MSP for cotton-soybean which is at present less than the cultivation costs as per the Swaminathan Commission recommendations; implementing 5-year credit provision policy to avoid exploitation by the RBI-regulated NBFCs; 100 per cent subsidy for change in cropping system and reduction of areas under cash crops; farmer as the unit for an all-encompassing crop insurance scheme.
The other points include: Village-wise Farmer Produce Organisations linked to all other stakeholders; free health facility in rural areas; free professional education for rural students; include all agricultural field work in EGS/MGNREGS; provision for free irrigation/electricity in the drought-prone areas; processing and warehousing facility in all villages; recognition to landless, tenant, women and tribal farmers; food security provision under Antyodaya Scheme in west Vidarbha.
Besides, Tiwari sought action against corrupt officials exploiting farmers from the village level and above in connivance with the elected public representatives, and fixing the responsibility of each suicide on the District Collector.
Tiwari said he had sent the letter to FM Sitharaman for favourable consideration in the Budget 2024-2025 proposals, President, PM, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Maharashtra Governor, CM, and other officials.
(IANS)
