New Delhi: As their protest entered the eighth month today, the agitating farmers today sent a memorandum to President Ramnath Kovind reiterating their demand to repeal the three “anti-farmer” farm laws, and to get a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price for farmers. It hoped that the President will direct the Union Government to immediately accept the demands of the farmers’ movement, repeal the three anti-farmer laws and to enact a law that will guarantee remunerative MSP at C2+50% for all farmers.
The memorandum signed by the General Secretary of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – an umbrella organisation of 40 farmers’ unions, lamented that the President had chosen to give his assent to the farm laws, which the SKM claimed to be “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic”.
“The three central farm laws are unconstitutional, because the Union Government has no authority to make legislation in the area of (agricultural) Markets. These legislations are also undemocratic. Before creating such laws, no consultations and dialogues were held with farmers. Without being asked for and without proper reason, these were brought in covertly in the form of Ordinances. The Bills after being tabled in the Parliament were not sent to Committees for further study and debates. While pushing these Bills in the Parliament, voting by division was not allowed in Rajya Sabha. We had hoped that as the first guardian of our Constitution created by Babasaheb and others, you would refuse to give your assent to such unconstitutional, undemocratic and anti-farmer laws. However, you did not refuse,” the memorandum stated.
The protesting farmers further claimed in the memorandum that they were not asking for any charity from the government. “We are only asking for just and remunerative returns for our hard work and toil,” the SKM stated. It explained that because of the “enormous exploitation and looting that is done of farmers when it comes to prices for our produce”, farming had become an unviable profession for them. “We are in deep debt, and in the past 30 years, more than 4 lakh farmers were compelled to take their own lives in a continuing spate of farm suicides. That is the reason why we are demanding that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) has to be fixed using the Swaminathan Commission formula of C2 cost+50%, and that such an MSP has to be guaranteed for all farmers in a legal framework.”
It charged that instead of fulfilling its promises and commitments on this front, the Government started a “false jumla” around ‘doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022’ which is clearly not being achieved, and made you state the same in your speeches, bringing down the dignity of your esteemed position.
– global bihari bureau
