By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Thousands of cotton farmers will start indefinite national highway blockade agitation from October 11 to demand higher procurement price of cotton.
This was decided at the protest rally organised on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi birth anniversary on 2nd October to press the main demand of cotton growers.
According to Nagpur-based Kishor Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), more than 10,000 cotton farmers of Vidarbha region participated in the rally organised at Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district which is epicentre of farm suicides in Vidarbha.
Tiwari said that the protest rally was presided over by senior most farm activist Vijay Jawandhia and joined by activist and political workers of all parties. It was organised for press the Indian government to “Bring back Mahatma Gandhi” i.e. Gandhian policies to save Vidarbha farmers and to announce future plan of agitation. Hundreds of farm widows also had joined “Candlelight Vigil” function on the same day to join AID’s worldwide programme, he added.
Jawandhia urged the UPA convener Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to restore advance bonus and give Rs. 2700/- per quintal price to cotton growing farmers as promised in the UPA manifesto.
“We are forced to come out on the street as government is not attending to the main demand of cotton growers in order to stop the ongoing farm suicides spiral in Vidarbha region. Time has come for the Central Government to intervene and stop these mass genocide as millions of farmers of Vidarbha are in deep distress, Tiwari informed the farmers in the rally.
Tiwari said most of the political parties are shedding crocodile’s tears over the insult of cotton farmers but they are not talking about finding solution to redress the hardships of these Vidarbha farmers. Presently most of the farmers who are committing suicides are victims of poverty and hunger that has resulted after the economic collapse in the Vidarbha region due to the ongoing agrarian crises.
“We demand urgent step to provide food security and health care facilities to these dying farmers before making arguments over farm suicides being agrarian or non-agrarian. Now the time has come to give complete loan waiver and price protection on all agriculture produce from free trade in WTO era to Vidarbha dying farmers”, Tiwari added. ([email protected])