Farmers Movement Archive

Centre acting against farmers, says KCR

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was not only allowing corporates to loot farmers, but discouraging States that wish to extend better than minimum support prices (MSP) to farmers, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Saturday. “This order by Food Corporation of India (FCI), through the Centre, has guidelines instructing States not to give farmers even a rupee more than the MSP,” he said, flashing the copy, while addressing farmers after inaugurating the Rythu Vedika here. Mr. Rao said Telangana government was willing to pay paddy farmers more than the prescribed Rs. 1, 888 for grade A variety. However, if States went ahead with their own decision, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) would not procure any grain, he said. A copy of the Food corporation of India order, Mr. Rao said, would be disclosed to media persons for wider circulation. Attacking the Centre for the farm legislation – the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – he said they were passed “without voting and by force.” “No farmer would want to transport produce to a far-off place to sell, but traders and corporates would. Telangana is the only State that procures farmers’ harvest at the village level,” he said. Mr. Rao also criticised the Centre for not being reasonable with minimum support price with certain varieties. Both coarse and fine paddy varieties are offered the same minimum support ptice (MSP), the Chief Minister said. And Rythu Vedika, platforms for farmers to unite and raise questions, such as the opposition by farmers in Punjab, was the only way to challenge top-down imposition, he said.

The Hindu

2020-11-01

KODAKANDLA,TELANGANA