As announced during the ‘Vari Deeksha’ held in Hyderabad, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & MP Revanth Reddy has initiated the battle for paddy farmers in the national capital on Monday.
On the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament, Revanth Reddy gave an adjournment motion notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking discussion on non-procurement of paddy by the Centre and State Government.
“I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance, namely: To discuss non-procurement of paddy by the Central and StateTPCC Governments due to which paddy farmers are still waiting at their farm yarns and procurements centers with lakhs of tonnes of unsold paddy. Following unseasonal rains, the paddy stocked up many procurement centers, got soaked, and started sprouting. But the government has turned blind eye towards paddy farmers of Telangana,” Revanth Reddy said in his Adjournment Motion notice.
While addressing the two-day ‘Vari Deeksha’ held at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park in Hyderabad on 27th and 28th November, Revanth Reddy had promised to wage a full-scale war against TRS and BJP Government to protect the interest of paddy farmers of Telangana. “While Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP Govt at the Centre tried to destroy the entire farm sector in the country through three black laws, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao-led TRS Govt is crushing the farmers by ensuring non-procurement of their main produce, i.e., paddy,” he alleged.
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Revanth explained that unlike other occupations, farming is not perennial. “The fate of farmers is decided by a single crop. The farmers put all their investments into one crop and their survival depends on the overall produce and the price they get for it in that particular season. The failure of crops, for whatever be the reason, the entire life of a farmer and his family gets destroyed. Farmers sometimes suffer huge losses due to natural disasters like drought or floods. But this time, lakhs of paddy farmers have become the target of Modi-KCR combine who want to crush their backbone by not procuring their produce,” he alleged.
The TPCC President accused CM KCR of enforcing regulated and corporate farming without actually bringing a new law. “By refusing the purchase of the paddy stocked at farm yarns and procurement centres, the TRS and BJP Governments are forcing the farmers to resort to panic selling. Instead of insisting on an MSP of Rs. 1,960 per quintal, farmers are now forced to sell their produce to millers for Rs. 1300 or even less. Consequently, the farmers will incur huge losses and they will not be having any money to invest in the next crop. Since the TRS Govt has not waived off their previous crop loans, they will not be able to get fresh loans and either they will quit farming or will fall into the debt trap of private lenders,” he said.
He said that the BJP Govt was forced to repeal three black laws following agitation by farmers across the country. Therefore, he alleged that PM Modi and CM KCR have jointly conspired to create a ‘Telangana Model’ of forcing farmers to accept regulated and corporate farming without actually enforcing a law. They adopted a simple strategy of not procuring the main crop of a State, i.e., paddy in Telangana. By not procuring the paddy produce this season, they are making farmers incur huge losses which will automatically restrain them from taking up paddy cultivation in the next season. This will break their farming cycle and they will be forced to fall into the claws of big corporates like Adanis and Ambanis.
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Revanth said it was unfortunate that his Adjournment Motion notice on paddy procurement was not accepted for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Monday. “The BJP Govt which passed and repealed three controversial farm laws without a debate in the Parliament cannot be expected to have a discussion on paddy farmers. However, the Congress party will continue to raise the issue in all possible formats during the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament,” he said while adding that the Congress party was also planning a massive agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi between 9th and 12th December. “Our main demand is immediate procurement of entire paddy from across Telangana State without further delay. With huge stocks of unsold paddy, each passing day is proving to be a hell for the farmers. The tension and uncertainty has so far caused deaths of many farmers and we cannot sit idle watching many other farmers die and suffer,” he said.
“The battle for paddy and other farmers is a long-lasting battle and the Congress party will not rest until each and every grain produced by Telangana farmers is purchased by TRS-BJP Govts at the MSP,” he said.
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