Rajasthan govt sets up committee to study farmers’ demands

JAIPUR: The state government has set up a five-member cabinet sub-committee under home minister Gulab Chand Kataria to study the demands of farmers’ organisations and representatives and give recommendations to the government.
The government’s move to set up the sub-committee under Kataria is seen as one to engage the farmers before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Shekhawati region, the hot bed of farmers’ protests.

According to the government, the committee will meet the representatives of farmers’ organizations at the assembly premises on March 5 and 6 from 4 pm to 6 pm to hear their views.

The other members of the committee are water resources minister Ram Pratap, agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini, energy minister Pushpendra Singh and co-operative minister Ajay Singh.

In this year’s budget, the government had announced a farm loan waiver to small and marginal farmers of up to Rs 50,000, but only for loans taken from co-operative banks. This is expected to benefit about 20 lakh farmers for which the government has estimated of cost of Rs 8,000 crore. However, this has not satisfied the farmers’ organisations which have been demanding waiver of agriculture loans taken from all banks.

Despite crackdowns and arrests of its leaders, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), which organized the ‘Jaipur march’ on February 22, had managed to set up blockades across the state. They have been demanding loan waiver and minimum support price (MSP) as per the M S Swaminathan committee recommendations.

PM Modi is scheduled to visit Jhunjhunu on March 8 for the pan-India expansion of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' (BBBP) programme, which is currently being undertaken in only 161 districts, and the launch of the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), another ambitious scheme of the government, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

At a state committee meeting on February 27, the Kisan Sabha had decided to put forward the demands before Modi during his visit to Jhunjhunu.

The farmers’ leaders have been demanding a meeting with then PM to apprise him of their plight.