Press Releases Archive

Lok Satta, farmers’ organizations to seek free movement of food grains

Representatives of independent farmers’ organizations and the Lok Satta Party will be representing to the Director General of Foreign (DGFT) trade to permit free export of food grains to countries where there is good demand. There is no alternative to exports if justice is to be done to the farmer at a time the country is reaping bumper harvests and warehouses are overflowing with stocks.

The DGFT is visiting Hyderabad on March 12.

In a media statement, Lok Satta Party Working President D. V. V. S. Varma pointed out that lopsided policies of the Union and State Governments, rather than unusual rains, hurt the farmers this year. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka would have received a better price for paddy had the Government of India permitted export of BPT variety of rice (Sona Masoori) and boiled rice made out of rain-soaked paddy as suggested by the Lok Satta Party and independent farmers’ organizations. Government failure to act on the representation in time resulted in farmers selling their rain-damaged produce at 50 percent of the minimum support price.

Mr. Varma recalled that thanks to the efforts put in by Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the Andhra Pradesh Government permitted export of 1.5 lakh tons of BPT rice outside the State in December 2010. Following Dr. JP’s representations to the Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission, the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and others in Delhi, the Government of India permitted export of 1.5 lakh tons of rice, including one lakh tons of BPT rice, outside the country. Had the State and Central Governments been liberal in permitting movement of rice within and outside the country, the farmer would have been spared distress sale of his produce.

Mr. Varma also recalled that the Lok Satta tooth and nail opposed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s request to the Union Government to impose a total ban on cotton exports. Because of the Lok Satta’s intervention, the Government did not ban cotton exports. As a result, cotton producers received a good price for their produce this year.

The Lok Satta Party and independent farmers’ organizations will tell the DGFT that farmers shall have the freedom to market their produce wherever there is demand within and outside the country. The entire country should be treated as a single market.

Mr. Varma wanted the State Government to announce a State Advisory Price of not less than Rs. 2300 a ton for sugarcane. It should straightway pay the outstanding dues of Rs.52 crore to palm plantation owners, without waiting for Central share.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - 17:10

Mahila Satta celebrates Women’s Day Amidst sanitary workers

The Lok Satta Party’s women’s wing, Mahila Satta, celebrated International Woman’s Day amidst Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s women sanitary workers.

Mahila Satta leaders including K. Gita Murthy, D. Lakshmi, S. Manorama, T. Padmaja Rani, Y. Ramadevi, Bhavani and Annapurna distributed masks and sweets to sanitary workers and held an interactive session with them in the GHMC auditorium.

A number of workers pointed out that they had to part with their hard-earned money for their spouses’ addiction to liquor. They were happy to learn that Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan had facilitated direct remittance of wages into sanitary workers’ bank accounts and enabled them to enjoy provident fund facility in Kukatpally, which he represents in the Assembly. Illiteracy and ignorance stood in the way of women’s empowerment, they conceded.

Mahila Satta leaders pledged to conduct such interactive sessions with a view to empowering them.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - 11:45

Thermal project shrouded in tissue of lies, finds Lok Satta Party Committee

A Lok Satta Party fact-finding committee has concluded that the Andhra Pradesh Government permitted establishment of a thermal power station at Kakarapalli in Srikakulam district in violation of all laws, rules, and regulations.

The committee comprising Lok Satta Party’s Vice President Bhisetty Babji, Secretary Prof. D. Vishnu Murthy, and Srikakulam district unit President K. Poli Naidu submitted its report to party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan.

The party constituted the committee in the wake of the police firing on people protesting against the project at Kakarapalli on February 28, 2011. Two people died in the firing.

The report recalled that the State Departments of Forests and Fisheries had objected to East Coast Energy’s thermal power project in 2007 itself, as it would harm the environment. Two expert committees, which visited the site in July 2010 following an agitation, too confirmed the environmental hazards of the project.

The mandal revenue officer termed the land as proamboke and unfit for agriculture or any other remunerative activity, concealing the fact that fisher people had been earning their livelihood by fishing in the wetland since 1978.

The committee underlined the fact that East Coast Energy went ahead with construction although it is yet to get Coastal Regulatory Zone clearance, a case was pending in the National Environmental Appellate Authority, and it is yet to fulfill the conditions stipulated by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in its tentative permission.

The committee pointed out that nearly 30,000 acres of fertile land in the area would be vulnerable to inundation if the wetland, now serving as an outlet to heavy rainfall in the area, were to disappear in the name of the power project. It would also endanger the bird sanctuary at Telineelapuram, just 10 km away from the project site.

The report found the police guilty of a number of unwarranted actions. They clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 on February 24 itself, dismantled the camp of the protesters, resorted to arrests, confined people to their homes, and set fire to houses. It finally led to the firing. Although the police claimed to have used rubber bullets, post-mortem reports referred to the use of regular bullets.

The committee wanted the Government to review all the six thermal power projects proposed to be set up in Srikakulam district. While permitting projects, the Government should ensure that the interests of both environment and people to be displaced are taken care of.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - 16:32

Pages