The State Working Committee of the Lok Satta Party is meeting at Kakinanda in East Godavari district on October 22 and 23, with Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, party President, in the chair.
The committee will finalize institutional arrangements for implementing the action plan drawn up on its fifth anniversary at Ongole earlier this month, said party General Secretary Katari Srinivasa Rao in a media statement.
The Lok Satta Party today welcomed the RTC decision to make up for losses suffered by bus pass holders by extending the validity of their passes for the duration of the strike by RTC workers. Issuance of bus passes making up for days lost to those who have already renewed their passes and those who have taken new identity cards on expiry of old ones and extension of the working hours of counters issuing passes are welcome, said Lok Satta Party’s GHMC unit convener M. Satyanarayana.
The Lok Satta Party leader wanted the RTC to extend the benefit to student and physically challenged bus pass holders, and open more counters for issuance of passes.
The failure of the Government to address the growing agrarian crisis is resulting in farmers resorting to vandalism at market yards, charged the Lok Satta Party today. If both the Union and State Governments persist with their anti-farmer policies, there is the risk of farmers extending holiday to all crops in all regions and hitting the road, warned Lok Satta Party Working President D. V. V. S. Varma and Secretary P. Bhaskara Rao in a media statement here today.
The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that the State Government has not taken steps to ensure even minimum support prices, let alone remunerative prices, for agricultural produce, although farmers are groaning under the burden of higher cost of production. Farmers and tenants this year have had to reckon with an increase in the prices of seed and fertilizers, higher wages, usurious interest rates in the wake of banks’ failure to extend them liberal loans, and frequent power cuts and adverse weather conditions.
Mr. Varma and Mr. Bhaskara Rao instanced how traders are taking cotton growers for a ride by denying them a fair price. Although adverse weather and frequent power cuts have brought down cotton yields and there are no controls on exports, traders are deliberately depressing cotton prices. Instead of remaining a mute spectator, the State Government should persuade the the Cotton Corporation of India to enter the market and lift cotton at not less than Rs.7000 a quintal. Farmers should also be enabled to get loans against produce stored in warehouses.
The Lok Satta leaders demanded that the Government announce a State Advisory Price of Rs.2500 per ton of sugarcane. In the absence of an SAP, factories bought cane at rates varying from Rs.1900 to Rs.2250 last year. Similarly, the Government should announce a bonus of Rs.200 per bag of paddy. It should announce a special relief package to farmers in 470 drought-hit mandals.