Those who are the part of the farmers’ jatha launched under the banner of the Karnataka Pranth Raitha Sena from Basavakalyan have urged the government to waive farm loans and revisit the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to introduce provisions to ensure 200 days of work with a minimum daily wage of Rs. 600.
Harassed over loan repayment, many farmers have ended their lives and the government should pay compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the kith and kin of the deceased, they said. As a social security scheme, the government should introduce a pension scheme for senior citizens in rural areas, with the monthly amount fixed at Rs. 3,000, they added. The farmers also demanded amendments to Section 94A and B of the Revenue Act. Poor and Dalit cultivators who have been cultivating government land and forest areas need to be protected. Earlier, forest-dwellers had applied for land sanction under Section 50 and 53, but the State government, without considering their applications, rejected them, the farmers said. Ministers have made assurances of protecting the interests of the bagair hukum cultivators, but this has remained just lip service, they alleged. On the other hand, the liberal policies of the Union and the State government have helped the corporate sector to get land at throwaway prices, the farmers said. They also said that a majority of farmers who had borrowed loans from banks have incurred huge crop losses owing to the drought in the State. Farmers are finding it difficult to make ends meet and the government should waive the loans on humanitarian grounds, they said.
