Janandolanagala Mahamaitri, an outfit representing several progressive and social organisations in Belagavi, demanded that the government waive all outstanding crop loans and announce a special package on the lines of the Vidarbha package of Maharashtra to rehabilitate chronically drought-prone taluks in the State.
The mahamaitri also demanded that both the ruling and Opposition parties support the private bill on farm issues to be moved by K.S. Puttannaiah, MLA, during the winter session of the legislature here.
The State Cabinet, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday morning, must take up these demands along with granting ownership rights to tillers cultivating forest land since decades and housing for all homeless families and make a categorical announcement of its stand on these issues before adjourning the session sine die, mahamaitri leaders, including writer Devanur Mahadev, Raghavendra Kushtagi, S.R. Hiremath, Ravi Krishna Reddy and Vasu, said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Mr. Mahadev also suggested that the government to take a policy decision to ensure that no land acquired from farmers was handed over on ownership basis but only on lease basis so as to restore its ownership with the government once the purpose and period of the term of the lease was over.
“The main reason behind droughts, lack of housing and land for cultivators, groundwater and air pollution, etc., was because of the ever increasing greed of the corporate sector; we need to stop this by ensuring that agricultural and forest land remain for cultivation and for forest purposes only,” he said.
Mr. Mahadev and Mr. Hiremath, quoting a report in a national English newspaper, pointed out that the government had unconditionally written off 1.14 lakh crore of corporate loans.
Further, Mr. Mahadev said, the big corporate houses had accumulated huge non-performing assets (NPA), for instance the Ambanis’ NPA accounted for Rs. 1.04 lakh crore, the Adani group Rs. 96,000 crore and other corporate houses owed around Rs. 1 lakh crore.
When the government was sympathetic with these corporate houses, why not with farmers who are asking for a meagre amount in the form of waiver of their small loans due to successive spells of natural calamities such as droughts and excessive rainfall/floods, they added.
Earlier, the mahamaitri leaders participated in the ongoing agitation led by veteran freedom fighter H.S. Dorewswamy near the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, where Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Health and Family Welfare Minister Ramesh Kumar visited and invited them for talks with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha later during the day.