Press Releases Archive

Let farmers live to ensure nation's Food security: Lok Satta tells Brinda

The Lok Satta Party today asserted that there could be no food security for the country if there is no livelihood security for the farmer.

Reacting to CPM Politburo member and Member of Parliament Brinda Karat’s contention that export of rice and other food grains endnagered the nation’s food security, Lok Satta Party leaders Bhisetty Babji and G. Raja Reddy maintained that agriculture would sink into a deeper crisis if farmers are not ensured remunerative prices through export promotion.

Manufactures of all varieties of goods can market their produce anywhere in the world and stand to gain. Governments, however, have been preventing the farmer, from exercising such freedom and harming him, they pointed out.

Farmers, they said, should be assured of not a minimum support price but a remunerative price for their produce.

Underlining that the per capita of 65 percent of people engaged in farming is a mere Rs.15000, one-seventh of those engaged in non-farming occupations, the Lok Satta leaders said the disparities will widen if the farmer is not enabled to get remunerative prices for his produce. Lakhs of farmers have committed suicide after unremunerative farming landed them in a a debt trap whereas not a single person has ended his or her life because of a rise in the price of food grains.

The Lok Satta leaders conceded there are sections of people who deserve free or subsidized food grains. It, however, does not provide an excuse to the Government to deny freedom to the farmer to market his produce wherever he wants. It is high time the Govermet unschackled agriculture from the license-permit raj, they added.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - 17:53

Dr.JP and Farmer's Leaders Memorandum to C.M. On 'Paddy Purchase, Boiled, BPT Rice Export and Cane S.A.P'

The following is the text of the Memorandum that Lok Satta Party President Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan along with Party leaders and Independent Farmers' Organisations submitted to the Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy at Secretariat today (February 14, 2011, Monday).

Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy
Chief Minister
Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
Secretariat
Hyderabad

Dear Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy garu,

We, on behalf of independent farmers’ organizations and Lok Satta Party would like to convey our sense of deep disappointment over the Empowered Group of Ministers’ decision to permit exports of a meager one lakh tons of BPT 5204 (Sona Masuri) rice. More distressing is the government’s silence on export of boiled rice.

1. As you are well aware, heavy rains during the kharif season in our State left lakhs of tons of paddy discolored and damaged. Millers can convert such paddy into boiled rice, which has no takers in India at present but commands a good price overseas. Farmers have made distress sales of damaged paddy to millers since Governmental agencies are not active in the market.

2. By banning export of non-basmati rice for the last two years, the Government of India has caused incalculable harm to the farming community. Millers do not procure damaged paddy from farmers unless they can market the boiled rice outside the country. There is no market for boiled rice within India.

3. The decision to persist with the ban on non-basmati rice exports, barring the current minor relaxation, is unwarranted. As of January, the country has rice stocks of 175 lakh tons, against the buffer stock norm of 118 lakh tons. Against such a backdrop, the Government of India must protect farmers’ interests, as there are adequate stocks to meet the Public Distribution System requirements and domestic needs. Banning export of surplus food grains harms the interests of farmers and tenants severely, and undermines the national interest of export promotion.

4. We request you to persuade the Government of India to permit export of at least 15 lakh tons of Sona Masuri (BPT 5204) and 15 lakh tons of boiled rice. State-owned undertakings can undertake the exports considering that the international prices are ruling high, and share part of the profits with the farming community, which has suffered huge losses.

5. Andhra Pradesh is the only state imposing restrictions on sale of agricultural produce across the borders. I urge you to immediately order permanent lifting of all restrictions on food grains trade across the state borders so that there is an integrated market in the country, and AP farmers will get a better price.

6. We also request you to announce a State Advisory Price (SAP) of at least Rs.2300 per ton of sugarcane, considering the steep hike in costs of cultivation, cutting and transport and the satisfactory price of sugar the factories are obtaining. As per Supreme Court decision, the state government has the power to announce State Advisory Price. Since the government is silent, some of the sugar factories are exploiting the farmers’ vulnerability, and are paying below `2000 per MT, which is even lower than last year’s price, though the costs have gone up by 20%.

7. With farming becoming a losing proposition, farmers and tenants are migrating in droves to urban areas. No farmer these days wants his son or daughter to stick to farming because the future is going to be bleaker. Therefore, getting a fair and remunerative price for farm produce is critical for the health of rural economy. I therefore hope that you will intervene immediately to help paddy and sugarcane farmers in distress.

Yours truly,

Jayaprakash Narayan
Prabhakar Reddy
DVVS Varma

Monday, February 14, 2011 - 16:50

Unshackle agriculture from License-permit raj: Dr. JP

A ‘blind’ Government of India and a ‘deaf’ Andhra Pradesh Government have been accentuating the serious crisis in the countryside with their anti-farmer policies, charged Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan here today.

If the Union and State Governments persisted with policies that only pauperized farmers, tenants and artisans dependent on them, the county would have to reckon with political instability and economic stagnation, Dr. JP told a media conference.

That as many as 40,000 families applied for ration cards during the current rachchabanda program in just one constituency – Kukatpally in Hyderabad - testified to the magnitude of the crisis in the rural economy and the consequent exodus to urban areas.

The immediate provocation for Dr. JP’s outburst was the Government of India decision to permit export of a mere one lakh tons of sona masuri (BPT 5204) against the demand for export of at least 15 lakh tons of the variety, produced largely in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The Government of India did not take cognizance of warehouses overflowing with old rice stocks and farmers reaping bumper harvests when it decided on the meager export quantum. The Union Government’s policies are in total contravention of the commitments it made to Parliament when India joined the World Trade Organization. Dr. Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as Commerce Minister then had told Parliament that the Government would safeguard farmers’ interests by promoting exports and curbing imports through suitable mechanisms.

The Government of India would not allow rice exports, put a restriction on the quantum of cotton exports, allow duty-free import of edible oils and fish and followed a flip-flop policy on onions. It crafts all its policies only to depress farmers’ incomes.

The Andhra Pradesh Government till recently banned even inter-district movement of rice, not to talk of inter-State movement.

Dr. JP listed a charter of demands on behalf of the Lok Satta and independent farmers’ organizations to provide immediate relief to farmers.

The Union Government should permit export of 15 lakh tons of boiled rice and 15 lakh tons of sona masuri variety of rice. Paddy damaged in the December 2010 rains is useful for conversion into boiled rice which commands a market overseas. Public sector agencies could export such boiled rice which has no demand in India and share the profits with farmers who suffered losses in the rains.

The Andhra Pradesh Government should remove once and for all the ban on movement of paddy and rice.

The Union Government should not impose any restrictions on export of non-food items like cotton. Governments can procure them at rates prevailing overseas, if necessary. It is welcome to permit import of commodities in short supply only after imposing import duties. It should share the revenue with farmers as an incentive to maximize production.

The Andhra Pradesh Government should announce a State Advisory Price of at least Rs. 2300 a ton for sugarcane. It should utilize the hundreds of crores of market cess it collects every year to promote storage and processing facilities.

The Union and State Governments should integrate the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with agriculture to benefit both farmers and laborers.

When a reporter pointed out that Congress and Telugu Desam leaders were accusing each other of indulging in corruption running into Rs.1 lakh crore, Dr. JP said that both of them are speaking the truth although there may be the same dispute about the magnitude of the evil. That is why the Lok Satta Party would like the ruling and the Opposition parties to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act in the coming budget session of the Assembly. The Bill provides for exemplary punishment including imprisonment and confiscation of the ill-gotten wealth of the guilty.

Thursday, February 10, 2011 - 21:38

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