New Delhi, The Samyukta Kisan Morcha will submit a memorandum to MPs and MLAs between August 17 and 25, urging them to press the Centre and state governments to change what the farmers’ organisation describes as a “corporate-centric” development policy and address the issues facing farmers and working people.
It has called for strengthening the federal rights and financial autonomy of states, stopping corporate entry into agriculture, modernising farming through productive cooperatives and promoting industrialisation and employment. The organisation is specifically seeking the intervention of MPs and MLAs to put pressure on the prime minister and chief ministers for a change in policies under the ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ framework, which it alleges favour corporate interests.
The SKM, the umbrella organisation of several farmer groups, said farmer representatives will travel in convoys from villages to hand over the memorandum to elected representatives and seek their intervention on its demands. The organisation said its August 10 nationwide ‘Jail Bharo’ campaign involved farmers, workers, agricultural labourers, students, youth and women, and was part of the campaign against what it describes as “anti-worker and pro-corporate” policies.
The organisation said the memorandum seeks to mobilise elected representatives behind a broader policy shift rather than limiting the campaign to individual farm-sector demands, and urged them to use their positions to press the Centre and states for action on farmers’ livelihoods, employment and social security.
Its seven principal demands include a legal guarantee of MSP at C2 50 per cent with assured procurement, comprehensive farm loan waiver, opposition to the India-US free trade agreement and other FTAs, repeal of the four labour codes, restoration of MGNREGA with 200 days of work at ₹ 700 a day, withdrawal of the electricity privatisation and seed bills, and protection of land rights.
