Karnataka farmers demand Telangana schemes

Hyderabad: In a rare occurence, it was Telangana and the State’s pro-farmer welfare schemes that took centre stage at protests by farmers in Bengaluru on Monday. The farmers, who were protesting against the anti-farmer policies of the BJP governments in Karnataka and at the Centre, raised slogans demanding that the Karnataka government implement schemes like […]

Hyderabad: In a rare occurence, it was Telangana and the State’s pro-farmer welfare schemes that took centre stage at protests by farmers in Bengaluru on Monday.

The farmers, who were protesting against the anti-farmer policies of the BJP governments in Karnataka and at the Centre, raised slogans demanding that the Karnataka government implement schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima apart from ensuring free uninterrupted power supply to farmers as was being done in Telangana.

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Several hundreds of sugarcane farmers, supported by various farmers unions, had reached the the Majestic Railway Station to take out a rally to the State Assembly and stage the protest, which also called for a Minimum Support Price for sugarcane crop among other demands. Extending their support to the agitation, farmers from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and several other States also gathered at the Majestic Railway Station to participate in the rally. However, they were all arrested at the railway station.

Under the banner of the South Indian Farmers Federation, several leaders of farmers unions, also reached the city for the ‘Chalo Vidhana Soudha’ protest, which also called for withdrawing GST on agricultural products and machinery and the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill.

The farmers were sporting placards demanding implementation of Telangana model schemes including the Rythu Bandhu investment support, the Rythu Bima insurance coverage and free uninterrupted power supply to the agriculture sector. The placards had slogans saying ‘We want Rythu Bandhu’, ‘We want life insurance’ and ‘We want Telangana model schemes’ and were held by farmer leaders from the Tamil Nadu Vyasaya Sangham and by the Karnataka farmers too.

“‘It clearly indicates how Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao‘s visionary leadership and pro-farmer measures in Telangana have impressed farmers in neighbouring States'”, Farmers Federation leader and Khammam Rythu Bandhu Samithi district convener Nallamala Venkateshwar Rao, who took part in the Bengaluru protests, said.

The Karnataka farmers also demanded that their State government set up purchase centres to procure grain at minimum support price and take up construction of irrigation projects as was done in Telangana. Federation leaders Kotapati Narasimham Naidu, PK Daivasigamani, K Rama Gowder, K Shanta Kumar and AS Babu along with north Indian farmer leaders Sivakumar Kakkaji and Dallewal also took part in the protest.