! Delhi Chalo !                                             ! March to Delhi !                                        ! Delhi Chalo !

Bhartiya Kissan Union, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Tamilnadu Farmers Association, Uzhavar Ulaippalar Katchi and others gave a call for a Farmers Maha Panchayat and Demonstration against Anti Farmers Policies of the NDA government at Jantar Mantar (New Delhi) on Wednesday, 18^th March 2015

Small and Marginal Farmers in India are quite upset and outraged with the anti farmer and pro-corporate policies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Shri Narendra Modi. In last 10 months of its rule, this government has brought in policies and programmes which are disastrous for the livelihood and survival of millions of farmers, surviving on subsistence agriculture. The most damaging is the Land Ordinance of December 2014, which would reverse the pro-farmers provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 2013 to help corporates grab land easily. The Ordinance takes away all progressive provisions and safeguards under 2013 Act in the form of ‘consent provisions’, ‘social impact assessment’, ‘scrutiny of public purpose’ etc and facilitate acquisition of multicrop and irrigated land which was not allowed under 2013 Act.

This government is fast progressing towards withdrawing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme for procurement of foodgrains from farmers for the food security programme and this will soon be implemented in the name of restructuring Food Corporation of India (FCI) as recommended by Shanta Kumar and Ashok Gulati led High Level Committee. This government wants FCI to step out of procurement operations through dilution in the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to reduce its coverage from present 67% to 40% as well as to windup MSP programme by bringing in cash transfer in the food security programme.

That’s the reason there is absolutely no increase in MSP during the NDA rule in last 10 months despite the tall promise made before the election by Mr. Modi for providing 50% above the cost of cultivation (C2+50).

The NDA has also taken a U-turn on their promise for not allowing field trials of GM crops and they are moving ahead with negotiating trade agreements like Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and EU India FTAs which will lead to slashing of agricultural tariff and allowing import of cheap subsidised foods which would further depress farmgate prices and drastically impact farmers livelihood.

Before 2014 elections, Mr. Modi had promised over ‘Chai pe Charcha’ in Vidarbha to deal with farmers suicide. Everyday twelve farmers are committing suicide everyday in Maharashtra alone due to drought conditions, indebtedness and sharp drop in farmgate prices for cotton, soyabean and others but Mr Modi government is a mute spectator of this crisis. Instead of increasing Budget allocation to deal with agrarian crisis, it drastically reduced agriculture budget by 10.4%, from `31,322 crore in 2014-15 to `28,050 crore in 2015-16. This is being done in the name of rural welfare, to boost production and productivity.

It is therefore quite important that all farmer organisations, irrespective of their political affiliation, must come together and fight against the anti farmers policies of the NDA government.

Farmer unions affiliated with All India Coordination Committee of Farmers Movement (AICCFM) have given a call for a Kissan Maha Panchayat and Demonstration on Wednesday, 18^th March at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

Around 100,000 farmers from all over India are expected to converge in Delhi on 18^th March.

We call upon you to join in big numbers and make this rally a success.