Small farmers may launch statewide protest
Monday, 26/11/2012
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=56051&boxid=59184&uid=&dat=2012-11-26
Amritsar : Due to the some pending demands of the small farmers in the state, Kirti Kisan Union is in the mood of launching agitation against government to save the small farmers. They will start their agitation in different phases. In the first phase, there will be protest and rallies before the deputy commissioners offices of Punjab on November 30.
The small farmers have some demands about the waivíng of all type of loans, employment to at least one member of the small farmer family, free water supply for the irrigation by establishing tube wells, special subsidy to them in seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, all Panchayat and government lands in the village should be given to the small farmers on contract, only small farmers should have the right to purchase the land of the small farmers and government should give loan without interest for this purpose, the land ceiling should be reduced from 17 acre to 10 acre so that the surplus land should be given to the small farmers.
While talking about the issue, vice president Punjab Datar Singh said that the decision of the convention of the organisation on November 6 at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall that there was need to save the small farmers and the organization had decided to hold protest against the state government. He said that the organisation was of the view that if the government did not take any special decision in favour of small farmers, they could not remain in farming.
As according to the survey of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 21 per cent farmers were under heavy debt and they could not be free after selling their total land. So the government would have to fulfil their demands, otherwise the statewide protest would have to be held.
