Patna: Delivering his talk on “Why farmers and farm workers are
demanding 21 day special session of Parliament, P Sainath, former
rural affairs editor of The Hindu, agrarian crisis is no more about
food security, farmers and farm labourers alone, it has now become a
crisis of the society, humanity and civilization in a situation where
over three lakh farmers have committed suicide in our country in the
last 20 years. Now that it has officially been admitted that between
1991 and 2011, the number of farmers/cultivators declined by 1.5 crore
as per census, it is quite clear that the wages and salary of all
including legislators have increased but income of farming communities
remains frozen. Some 94 per cent of the farmers’ have been kept out of
the purview of income security. Sainath is also the founder editor of
Peoples Archive of Rural India (PARI). The meeting on agrarian crisis
was organized at Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Museum), Gandhi Maidan,
Patna ahead of the upcoming Kisan Mukti March of farmers to Parliament
on 29-30 November, 2018.
The meeting was chaired by Prof. Navin Chandra, General Secretary,
Kedar Das Institute for Labour and Social Studies (KDILSS). In his
remarks, Prof. Chandra said that resolution of the crisis cannot be
separated from the general crisis of capitalism and the total crisis.
The different people affected by the crisis have to show solidarity
with each other to resolve the crisis.
Over 210 farmer and agricultural worker organisations of the country
have given a call for this march to Parliament inspired by the example
of farmers' march from Nashik to Mumbai during March 2018.
Speaking in the meeting, Satyanarayan Singh, national secretary, All
India Kisan Sabha expressed his support for the Kisan Mukti March and
their demand for 21 day special session of parliament. He said that we
need co-operative farming not corporate farming. We need radical land
reform without which current agrarian situation cannot change.
The meeting was addressed by Dr Satyajit Singh, Prof. D M Diwakar,
Ravindranath Roy, Ujjawal, Raja Ram, Manoj Srivastva, , Mona Jha,
Pranav Prakash, Sanjeev Kumar, Sumant, Arun and Gopal Krishna.The
welcome address was given by Anamika Priyadashini. Vote of Thanks was
given by Tanweer Akhtar.
Expressing their solidarity with the Nation for Farmers and 210 farmer
and agricultural worker organizations, various groups of Patna have
decided to organize a signature campaign on 29 November at Dak Bungla
Chowk from 11 AM to 1 PM. It has also been decided that a Jan Samwaad,
Sangeet, poetry recitation and theatre performance will be organized
on 30 November from 2 PM to 5 PM in Buddha Smriti Park.
The meeting was organized by Nation for Farmers is organizing this
meeting in collaboration with its friends in Bihar’s non-farmer
organizations like Tatpar Foundation, Sanmat, Indian Society for
Cultural Co-operation & Friendship (ISCUF), National Alliance for
People’s Movement (NAPM), Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan
(SSEVS), Kedar Das Institute for Labour and Social Studies (KDILSS),
Chinaharan Social Development Trust, Bihar Mahila Samaj, Kisan
Zindabad & Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) on 23 November. These
orgainisations and participants in the meeting endorsed the demand for
21 day special session of Parliament.