Now Farmers From Karnataka Are Protesting Against The 'Anti-People' And 'Anti-Farmer' Laws
Farmers from Karnataka have become the latest to join the ongoing protests by the agrarian community across the country.
On Monday, hundreds of farmers from across Karnataka staged a massive protest rally against amendments to the APMC Act and Land Reforms Act.
"We are against the state government amending the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and the Land Reforms Act as they are anti-farmer and anti-people," thundered Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha state president Kodihalli Chandrashekar while addressing the rally.
Women also participated
The farmers, including women marched from the city railway station to the freedom park in the city centre, as the police did not allow them to proceed to the Vidhana Soudha where the monsoon session of the state legislature began earlier in the day.
"We will not budge from our agitation till the state government withdraws the bills to amend the Acts to replace the ordinances it promulgated in May amid the Covid pandemic," asserted Chandrashekar.
Alleging that amendments to both the Acts would benefit more corporates and multinational firms, Chandrashekar said the state and central governments were taking anti-agriculture and anti-farmer decisions unilaterally.
"The amendments will deprive farmers of getting better prices for our produce and hold on to our farmlands if non-agriculturists are allowed to buy our lands for non-farming activities," reiterated Chandrashekar.?
Farmers have been protesting across the state over the past few weeks after the state government promulgated the ordinance to amend the land reforms act, allowing non-agriculturists to purchase agriculture lands and amending the APMC Act to allow private players to directly purchase produce from farmers.
Farmer protests in Haryana, Punjab continue
This comes even as protests in Haryana and Punjab against the bills passed by the Lok Sabha continues.
Farmers were joined by 'arhitiyas' ¡ª or commission agents at ¡®mandis' ¡ª during their protests at many places in Haryana.
Farmers at several places in Punjab burnt effigies and copies of the farm bills, claiming that the new laws will destroy their livelihood.
The three bills are aimed at giving farmers the choice to sell their produce at competitive prices. But many farm organisations fear they will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system.
On Monday, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee attacked the Centre and said that the passing of the agriculture sector related bills by the government shows that it is planning "Food-pandemic" for the farmers.
Terming the 'day' as " Black Sunday" when agriculture-related Bills were passed, Banerjee urged all the political parties to protest against the Bills passed by Rajya Sabha on September 20.
