MADIKERI: A rally will be held here on September 29 in line with the all-India rally by various labour unions, farmer associations and employees organisations drawn from different fields to protest against the "anti-people" stance of the United Progressive Alliance-led Union Government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader from Kodagu, Peter Lobo, said here on Monday.

The participants will rally under the banner of Kodagu District Labour and Farmer Associations Joint Struggle Committee, he told presspersons here. Workers from the plantation, construction and other industries, farmers, student unions, Centre for Indian Trade Union, Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, Construction Workers Union, Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, Krishi Kooli Karmikara Sangha, will attend the rally. The procession will start from the Gandhi Maidan here.

Land reforms

Mr. Lobo said trade unions demanded that the Union Government promulgate comprehensive land reforms to benefit the poor and the downtrodden, strengthen the public distribution system, increase interests on employees provident fund, small savings and others, scrap the proposed privatisation of telecommunication and defence production sectors, provide social security to the unorganised labour and agriculture labour sectors, revive the loss- making yet feasible public sector companies, among others.

Jobs to youth

The unions would also demand that the Union Government to restore the right to strike, provide employment to the youth in rural and urban centres, ease restrictions on government appointments, constitute the sixth wage board for government employees, stop the proposed privatisation of airports, desist from bringing in amendments to Labour laws in the garb of liberalisation and so on.

Mr. Lobo said as far as Kodagu was concerned, the services of anganwadi workers should be confirmed, and the Kodagu Meters, electric meter manufacturing unit, at Ponnampet should be revived.

He said the Government should intervene to provide remunerative prices to the growers of coffee, pepper and cardamom which crops were affected in the recent rain.

He said the loans taken by farmers in Kodagu should be waived as per the statement issued by the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who had said that the issue of waiving loans of farmers who had obtained loans in the cooperative and public sectors would be looked into.

The organisation would protest against the moves to cut down one Assembly constituency in Kodagu as contemplated by the Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice Kuldip Singh, he said.

The farmers too urged the Government to bring in land reforms, withdraw the Seed Act of 2004 and amend the APMC Act. Vasant Kumar Hosmani of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, Antony of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Employees Union, C.K. Gopal of the LIC Employees Union and its functionary, Neeraja Holla, were present.

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