Chandigarh: Fasting veteran farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewa has received unexpected voice of support from opposing farmer body Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) led by former Rajya Sabha member Bhupinder Singh Mann.
Bhupinder Singh Mann
Monday, January 7, 2024 BKU (Mann) chief and Chairman, All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC) welcomed what Dallewal told the committee constituted by the Supreme Court. In a statement today, Mann quoted Dallewal as saying “Agriculture reforms priority, my health secondary”.
What Dallewal said is in line with our understanding that only reforms and liberalization is the solution to bring agriculture sector out of distress. Farmers need access to technology and markets and most importantly farmers need to be freed from the regulatory, constitutional and legal shackles, said Mann while requesting Dallewal to call off his fast.
Having requested so and while urging Dallewal to initiate the process of dialogue with all the stakeholders, the ex-MP came down heavily on those farmer leaders who have been creating hurdles in letting this process of dialogue take place.
Reforms are bound to happen in every sphere of life. These can, at best, be delayed by the vested interests but not stopped, he maintained.
Joining Mann, Shetkari leader Gunvant Patil referred to key recommendations of the much talked about Swaminathan Report which, he alleged, “is being read in convenient bits and pieces by few farmer leaders to misguide the farmers at large.”
National Commission for Farmers (NCF) or Swaminathan Commission as it called suggested the following measures:
Promotion of commodity-based farmers’ organisations such as Small Cotton Farmers’ Estates to combine decentralised production with centralised services such as post-harvest management, value addition and marketing, for leveraging institutional support and facilitating direct farmer-consumer linkage.
Improvement in implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP). Arrangements for MSP need to be put in place for crops other than paddy and wheat. Also, millets and other nutritious cereals should be permanently included in the PDS.
MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production.
Availability of data about spot and future prices of commodities through the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCD) and the NCDEX and the APMC electronic networks covering 93 commodities through 6000 terminals and 430 towns and cities.
State Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Acts [APMC Acts] relating to marketing, storage and processing of agriculture produce need to shift to one that promotes grading, branding, packaging and development of domestic and international markets for local produce, and move towards a Single Indian Market.
The NCF also very importantly recommends that “Agriculture” be inserted in the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
Mann lamented that the report was being read with convenience of selective blindness for misguiding the farmers. He also called upon the media to indulge in self research and bring factual position before the farmers otherwise the mafia of food grain procurement system will keep sucking the blood of farmers and the tax payers.
