AIKS four-day national conference begins in Cuddalore

The four-day 33rd national conference of All-India Kisan Sabha, CPI-M's peasants front, began here today expressing concern over "corporatisation of agriculture" and increased pace of "disappearance" of peasant farming.
The free-market policies in force for three decades had increased the pace of disappearance of peasant agriculture and on the other hand paved the way for domination of corporates and multi-nationals, AIKS President S Ramachandran Pillai said in his address at the conference.
He said that the meeting was being held in the background of growing struggles of the peasantry against the neo-liberal economic policies of the UPA Government and the "loot" by multi-nationals.

Stating that around 10-12 per cent of rural population in the age group of 15-29 were unemployed, he charged that the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme had failed to provide 100 days work to the jobless rural people.