Anna demands Rs 5,000 pension for farmers

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), February 13

Accusing the Centre of ignoring farmers’ interests, social activist Anna Hazare has demanded monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for farmers to bail them out of crisis.

Anna was interacting with mediapersons after addressing a public meeting in Bahadurgarh town here today.

The veteran Gandhian said he would launch a ‘satyagraha’ in Delhi on March 23 on farmers’ issues and Jan Lokpal.

“Farmers are being exploited across the nation. The governments are working to fulfil their vested interests and have nothing to do with the welfare of farmers. As a result, 12 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the past 22 years,” said Anna, adding that he wanted to know the number of industrialists who have ended their lives in that period.

He said farmers should be given MSP one-and-a-half times the production cost of their produce. Farmers struggle throughout their lives to earn their livelihood, but they have nothing with them at the time of crisis. So, the farmers should get monthly pension.

“The farmer pension Bill is pending in Parliament. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants the welfare of farmers in the real sense, then he should make sincere efforts to get the Bill passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the earliest,” said Anna.

Attacking the Union Government over GST and demonetisation, he said the government was earning huge amounts of money by keeping petrol and diesel out of GST.

“Had petrol and diesel been brought under the ambit of GST, it would have been better for farmers as well as the common man,” he added.

Anna Hazare called upon the people to support his ‘satyagraha’ for the sake of farmers and the nation.