'Govt responsible for agri distress in country'

A farmers and agriculture workers convention here today blamed the government's policies for "agrarian distress" in the country.
Addressing the Kisaan Sankalp Sammelan at Gandhi Maidan in the Chhattisgarh capital, farmer leaders said cultivators are distressed all over the country due to poor agriculture policies and sought to fulfill promises by the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh.
In his address, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah said farmers were abandoning agriculture and committing suicide due to government policies.
"Instead of ensuring relief to farmers, the government is rubbing salt on their wounds. Now farmers across the country are uniting and raising demands of a loan waiver and seeking full return against their produce," he said.

Mollah said that assimilation of Chhattisgarh farmers in the national movement will create a "new wave".
Speaking on the occasion, noted agriculture economist Devinder Sharma said that farmers' income was still very low in the country, despite whopping growth in income in other sectors since 1971.

"Failing to recover the cultivation cost, distressed farmer are committing suicides," he said.
Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said farm-based companies related to seeds, fertilisers and pesticides have raked in huge profit in the country whereas farmers are in crisis.
"From the past 70 years, the government has kept the prices of crops low. It clearly indicates that not only the governments policy but their intention is also wrong," he said.

Yadav observed that it was for the first time when farmers' movements in various states are amalgamating into a nationwide movement.
"Now farmers want remedy for their problems and are coming together to raise their voices," he said.
Leaders representing various farmers and labourers associations also addressed the convention.
Farmer leaders also chalked out a strategy for the agitation in support of their various demands in near future in Chhattisgarh.