Unrest widens, nationwide stir on cards

Amarjit Thind

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 21

Trouble across the country is brewing among farmers on the alleged half-hearted measures initiated by successive governments to mitigate their plight.

They are miffed at the “short shrift given to them by regimes over the decades by announcing half-baked schemes and faulty policies that are neither practical nor effective”. The result is a meltdown in the farm sector and mounting suicide graph among debt- ridden farmers.

This is the general refrain among members of over 50 farmer unions functioning under the aegis of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh and activists of more than 60 non-political outfits who have expressed their solidarity with farmers.

SK Sharma, president of the mahasangh, said activists from Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan were frustrated at the doublespeak of the governments.

“We will camp in Delhi till our demands are not fulfilled. We will not submit a charter of demands to the government, but concentrate on just two demands. We want a commitment on a cut-off date for the implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations and a complete waiver of farm loans without preconditions,” he said.

On the course of action, he said farmer organisations would start a Kisan Jagriti Yatra on the anniversary of Sir Chhotu Ram from Kurukshetra on November 24 followed by a “Delhi Chalo” march.