Srinagar, September 10: General Secretary J&K Kissan Tehreek Ghulam Nabi Malik has demanded repeal of anti-farmer laws.
He said ‘these laws were aimed to help the corporate agri-businesses at the cost of poor farmer’s hard work.’ The issue is not the involvement of the private sector in agriculture but the BJP led Modi government is corporatizing agriculture. MSP is not given a constitutional guarantee. The farmers are pushed into a critical situation.
The Modi government is pushing through various neo-liberal measures under the guise of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign’. All the measures announced for agriculture and rural infrastructure have actually given nothing much to the farmers.
The Essential Commodities Act is amended hence corporates are allowed to loot the growers. APMC act is made ineffective and private mandies are allowed to function everywhere. Contract farming is being implemented and corporations allowed to grab the agricultural land of small and marginal farmers. Kisans are agitating since the past nine months, but no one from the government is ready to talk to them and every undemocratic, authoritarian and divisive method is used to curb them. FPOs will be meant to grab the produce of Kisans for corporates.
Malik said that J&K had its own model of pro kisan cooperativization since 1949, that needs to be strengthened which can help the small and marginal farmers.
