The Hindu : National : After 1,840-km padayatra, farmers from Medak to go on fast in Delhi

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After 1,840-km padayatra, farmers from Medak to go on fast in Delhi

Gargi Parsai

On a mission to the capital, after suicide by sugarcane grower

NEW DELHI: Shocked at the suicide by a sugarcane grower, the first in their village in Medak district, four fellow farmers reached New Delhi on foot to knock at the doors of the powers that be. They covered 1,840 km in 54 days, bonding with their counterparts in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

The long “padayatra” confirmed their fears — that farmers are in distress everywhere; that something is terribly wrong with the policy that gives high prices to foreign farmers and lets domestic farmers suffer for lack of a remunerative price; that there was a “ploy to finish farmers, farming, village economy, ecology and environment.”

From Friday, three of the four Medak farmers will go on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar here.

Different problems

“We left home in distress. But en route we found that we were not the only ones [suffering]. Maharashtra farmers told us that the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package for Vidharbha farmers was actually for politicians and officers. The waiver of interest on loans benefited only the politician-directors of cooperative banks. Madhya Pradesh farmers are suffering, thanks to spurious seeds, unremunerative prices and lack of insurance. Rajasthan farmers are suffering due to an artificial shortage of urea and black marketing in the fertilizer. In Haryana, we saw heterogeneous, not homogenous progress,” said D. Vasant Kumar, Govind Reddy, Narayan Reddy and Ramulu, all aged between 25 and 39.

They said Chakali Dasrath committed suicide after his sugarcane was rejected by a mill, with which they have an agreement, because of excess production this season. Because of the Centre’s delay in lifting the ban on sugar export, several mills stopped crushing before the season was over.

“Dasrath was turned away from the factory in an insulting manner. He was unable to take it. He told his wife that as a farmer he was not respected and despite his sugarcane being dedicated to that mill, he was turned away. He burnt the remaining crop and hanged himself.”

“No respect”

Mr. Vasant Kumar, an electrical engineer from the Osmania University, was upset when journalists in Delhi asked him why as a farmer he was dressed in trousers.

“Why should a farmer be always poor, illiterate and stand with folded hands? He feeds the country, yet he has no respect and is exploited.”

According to him, 20-25 sugarcane growers died in Andhra Pradesh alone due to “faulty” policies of the Centre and a low enhancement in the State Administered Price this year. Cane Development Councils do not come to the aid of distressed farmers as they have politicians and local MLAs on the board, “who cannot raise their voice against the government.”

To raise the problems and common grievances of farmers in the country, a Zahirabad Farmers Association was formed, Mr. Vasant Kumar said..

He, and others like him, do not want to give up farming — as the government keeps quoting National Sample Survey Organisation statistics — and have vowed to make farming and farmers “respectable.”

They are demanding bringing agriculture on the concurrent list; autonomous status for the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) and district-wise representation on it, creation of a Price Stabilisation Fund; decontrol of sugar; reforms in banking and marketing Acts in favour of farmers and a Special Annual Planning for Agriculture.

To achieve their demands, they will meet any politician from any party.

On Wednesday, they shared space with NGO activists Rajinder Singh and Vandana Shiva. On Thursday, they met Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L.K. Advani.

The farmers are seeking appointments with President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

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