Pointing at green gram and black gram being sold at prices less than the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the Union government, leaders of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), the Karnataka Prantha Krishi Koolikarara Sangha, (KPKKS) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions have demanded that the State government immediately open procurement centres and start purchasing the crop at MSP. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Maruti Manpade, vice-president of KPRS, criticised the State government for not opening the centres even after farmers started to bring their harvested crop to the market.
“In Kalaburagi alone, green gram and black gram are grown in almost 1 lakh hectares and the farmers have brought it to the market. Though the Union government had fixed ₹7,050 and ₹5,700 as MSPs for green gram and black gram respectively, the farmers are forced to sell their crop at around ₹2,000 lesser than the MSPs. The State government should immediately open the centres so that the prices in the market can pick up and get stabilised,” he said.
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Mr. Manpade said that the aggressive implementation of economic liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies were breaking the economic backbone of the country and destroying its farm sector. “The government is pushing for contract labour system that doesn’t provide any job security or welfare facility to the working people. Such policies only help a handful of big corporate companies to flourish. The erroneous policies have led the country to face increased closures of factories and resultant layoffs that have in turn led to the unprecedented unemployment crisis,” he said.