Farmers Movement Archive

Jharkhand Congress plans protest against farm bills

RANCHI: The state unit of Congress will organise a slew of activities from September 28 to October 20 to whip up support against the passage of farm bills in Parliament earlier this week. RPN Singh, the Congress’s minder for Jharkhand, on Thursday said a party delegation will meet governor Droupadi Murmu in Raj Bhavan on September 28 and submit a memorandum seeking a rollback of the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, which were passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the Parliament’s recently concluded monsoon session. There will be demonstrations across districts of the state on October 2 and a month-long signature campaign will be initiated. That apart, dharnas will be organized across all district headquarters on October 10, Singh said. Speaking to Congress functionaries virtually from New Delhi, Singh presented the AICC’s stand on the issue. “The laws will wipe out 40 lakh vegetable mandis (agriculture market produce yards) and will do away with the provision of minimum support price for farmers. These twin blows will affect the country’s farmers badly. Around 60% of the farmers work in farms less than 2 acres. After the MSP is abolished, they will be at the mercy of corporate houses,” Singh said. State Congress president Rameshwar Oraon, Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, agriculture minister Badal Patralekh and health minister Banna Gupta also attended the session. Meanwhile, the state unit of BJP came out strongly in support of the bills. Ranchi MLA C P Singh said: “In their addresses, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agriculture minister are repeatedly claiming that the MSP and mandi system will not be abolished. If the MSP systems were to be done away with, the Centre would not have increased the MSP rates on rice, wheat, grams and pulses substantially this year.”

The Times of India

2020-09-25

Ranchi