Farmers Movement Archive

Maharashtra farmers to write letters to PM Modi over import, export policies

Farmers of more than 23 districts in the state will write letters to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to protest against the central government policies over the import and export policies of the agriculture produce. The farmers will post the letters by resorting to the street in processions at tehsil level on November 16.Farmers outfit All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), which has organised the protest, said thousands of farmers from across the state will write letters to the PM.The organisation has said that the central government has, on one hand imposed an export ban, and on the other has been importing agriculture produce in large quantities. The organisation, affiliated to left parties, has said that the policies have been crippling the farmers and agriculture sector.“After onion was excluded from the list of the essential goods recently, the export was banned and import was opened up by relaxing fumigation, quarantine protocol of Covid-19 pandemic. Over 60,000 tonnes of onions were imported, of which 25,000 tonnes arrived before Diwali. The procedure of the import of 10 lakh tonnes of potatoes under TRQ (tariff rate quota) has begun by reducing import duty up to 10%. Around 30,000-tonne potatoes are being imported from Bhutan. The agreement with Mozambique for the import of 2 lakh tonnes of tur per year has been given an extension, while a proposal is ready for the import of 2.5 lakh tonnes of udad from Myanmar. This has been resulting in the fall in the procurement prices of the agriculture produce in the country hitting the farmers very badly,” the statement issued by AIKS stated.Ajit Nawale, state general secretary of AIKS, said that the Modi government was safeguarding the interest of the industrialists with its anti-farmer policies. “While passing the three farm laws in September, the central government boasted about its efforts to set farmers free from the clutches of the middlemen and have been talking about doubling farmers income. But in reality, the central policies are ruining the farmers and agriculture. Now they have proposed a bill to bring electricity charges for farmers as par with that of the industrialists. These are nothing but the attempts of crushing the farmers. The government is not giving any assurance about the minimum support price and at the same time its import and export policies result in the drastic fall in the procurement prices,” Nawale said.District units of the AIKS have organised to avail postcards for the farmers to make sure that the farmers were able to write a letter to the PM. “At least 45,000 letters will be posted on November 16. There would be other demands related to the laws, use of technology, policies related to the eco-sensitive zones and transfer of land to the tillers, will be raised in ‘letter to PM’. We know that it hardly matters to the PM, but we want to bring awareness among the farmers about the policies that are directly hurting their interests,” said Nawale.

Hindustan Times

13-11-2020

Mumbai