Farmers hold protest against draft agri marketing policy

Several farmers and labourers under the banner of All India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Sangathan gathered at Dharna Sthal here today and tried to march towards the Haryana Chief Minister’s residence in Chandigarh. After they were stopped by the police, a delegation of protesters went to meet the Chief Minister.

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The delegation, including Sangathan’s national president Satyawan and state chief Anoop Singh Matanhel, submitted a 15-point memorandum demanding the rejection of the Central Government’s draft agricultural marketing policy. The organisation called it “anti-farmer”, warning of corporate control over agricultural marketing and citing the absence of MSP guarantee.

Key demands included a law ensuring MSP at one-and-a-half times the cost, withdrawal of the Electricity Bill, 2023, ban on smart meters, farm loan waiver, affordable agricultural inputs and Rs 50,000 per acre compensation for crop loss. They also sought year-round employment for rural workers. The farmers from several districts participated in the protest, vowing to continue the struggle if the demands were not met.