Farmers from across Karnataka have begun an indefinite sit-in at Freedom Park in Bengaluru demanding that the State government scrap the recent amendments to Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, and Karnataka APMC Act, 1966.
These protests began even as the State government prepared to introduce them as Bills in the ongoing Assembly session. “These ordinances in the State and the recent Agriculture Reforms Bills passed in Parliament are part of a larger move towards corporatisation of the agriculture sector. The sit-in protest will continue till the demands are met or till the end of the Assembly session,” farmers’ leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar said.
When quizzed about concerns over COVID-19, he said all precautions were being taken to prevent a spread of the infection. “Both the State and Union governments have misused the pandemic and have brought in long-lasting changes without consulting stakeholders, forcing us to come to the streets,” he said.
Farmers’ organisations, supported by a host of Dalit and labour organisations, are mulling a Karnataka Bandh on September 25, the same day that over 250 farmers’ outfits across the country have called for a Bharat Bandh over the recent agriculture reform Bills passed by the Union government.
Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, who has also been leading a movement for land rights, said the recent amendments to the land reforms Act undoes the reforms in the State.
Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan said, “APMCs did have some problems. But the present Bill that allows for private mandis is like removing the roof of a house altogether because it was leaking. The Narendra Modi government is assuring the farmers that Minimum Support Price (MSP) will continue. It should make it a legal requirement, failing which the farmers can sue the buyers,” he said.