Farmers Movement Archive

Over 600 held for protest against Centre

Hundreds of members belonging to various labour unions and farmers’ associations took part in protests across Madurai district as part of Bharat Bandh organised against the Centre for its anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-labour policies. Madurai MP, Su. Venkatesan, took part in a huge road roko in the city in which the agitators raised slogans against the Centre for phenomenal increase in the price of petrol and diesel. Addressing the members of various trade unions, the MP said that all the rights the farmers had got all these years have been snatched by the Centre through the three new farm laws. “The country’s food market is the biggest one in the world and till now the Governments had protected it from corporates. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party Government has opened it to the corporates with the three farm laws,” he said. Similarly, the Centre has undone what the working class of the country had gained through prolonged struggle from the pre-Independence days as their rights through various labour laws by through four new labour codes. While, world leaders have realised the power of public sector units (PSUs) during the worst humanitarian crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic – the Centre was keen to sell the PSUs that would render huge workforce unemployed. The protesters also sought to increase the number of working days from 100 to 200 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and also to extend it to urban areas. Members of CITU, LPF, AITUC, INTUC, and cadres of various political parties took part in the protests. Over 600 protesters were arrested and later released. Virudhunagar In a protest organised at Virudhunagar, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which promised to usher in “good days”, had betrayed farmers, the common man and labourers to help corporates ‘loot’ the country. AIKS joint secretary Vijoo Krishnan said the government promised minimum support price (MSP) that would be more than 50% of the production cost of agricultural produce. However, it enacted three farm laws that were against the interest of the farmers and consumers. While the production cost of garlic was Rs. 32 a kg, six farmers in Mansdsaur in Madhya Pradesh were killed in police firing when they were protesting against the offer of just Rs. 1 a kg. The number of farmer deaths had crossed one lakh since 2014, he said.

The Hindu

2021-09-28

Madurai,TAMIL NADU