Agrarian Issues

What Farmers Need is Insurance from Govt Policies

THE Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme (PMCIS) was announced with much fanfare as the panacea for all risks faced by the farmers. Ironically, on the same day, news came out that in the year 2015 over 3,228 farmers had committed suicide in BJP-ruled Maharashtra. The phenomenon of farmers’ suicides has continued unabated for over two decades when the neo-liberal economic policies have been in operation. The ruling classes in a denial mode however, have sought to underplay the unprecedented human tragedy and linked farmers’ misfortunes to the weather gods.

Drought in Marathwada: Causes, Consequences and Remedies

MARATHWADA region has been reeling under drought condition since 2013. It is in a part of the scanty rainfall area of Central Maharashtra. The region coincides with the Aurangabad Division of Maharashtra. It includes districts of Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Osmanabad, Nanded, Latur, Parbhani and Hingoli.  Out of these eight districts, five are the worst affected, namely Beed, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded and Osmanabad. Marathwada region has a population of about 1.87 crore and geographical area of 64.5 thousand sq.km.

Distress Sale Ends in Distress Suicide

THE only living being in the universe that can kill itself is mankind. It is not the manifestation of the instinct but a conscious destruction of the self. What kind of consciousness operates here? Does it happen at a juncture when death becomes more alluring than life? The answer shall be an emphatic ‘no’. Self-killing occurs only when man finds no other solution to the problems that make the life woeful.EPIDEMIC OF FARMER SUICIDEIn Odisha, more and more farmers are now killing themselves. It has taken the form of an epidemic.

AIKS & AIAWU Demand Relief Work on War Footing

THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), in a statement issued in December 2, have expressed profound grief at the death of around 200 people in continuing heavy rains in Tamil Nadu, particularly in the northern and coastal districts. The rains have broken a hundred year record for the month of November and created havoc in Chennai and other coastal cities. Houses, roads, railway stations and even the airport are submerged.  Life has come to a standstill.

Rubber Growers Co-ordination Committee Calls for Protests on Jan 2

IN the context of prolonging crisis due to declining commodity price, and rising peasant suicides, rubber farmers from four major rubber producing states held parliament march and dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 1. The farmers demanded the parliament to enact law to protect the small and marginal rubber growers from corporate exploitation. The dharna was inaugurated by Hannan Mollah, ex-MP and general secretary of the AIKS.

Massive Rally of Peasants to be Held in New Delhi on Feb 24

WHEN BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with an absolute majority, the corporate media illustrated it as a personal victory of Narendra Modi as the emerging national leader who will remain as the unquestionable centre of power for decades to come.  But now after merely one-and-a-half years under his governance, the people across the country conceive the truth that only because of the absolute majority in Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA may remain in power up to its five year term, otherwise Modi as the prime minister has proved to be a liability than an asset for the BJP in national politics.H

AIKS opposes FDI in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Plantation

THE AIKS strongly opposes the decision of the Narendra Modi government to allow 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment in 15 sectors of the economy including agriculture, animal husbandry and plantations. In a statement issued on November 12, it said that this move in the long run will harm the sovereign rights of the country and make it subservient to world imperialism.

Parliament Dharna of Rubber Growers on Dec 1

The following is the press statement released by the All India Kisan Sabha on November 10.

IN the background of continuing crash of prices of natural rubber and the failure of the Modi government to protect the farmers from market exploitation, rubber growers from major rubber growing states will organise a parliament dharna in front of parliament on December 1, 2015. AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah will inaugurate the dharna.

AIKS Raises Concern over GM Mustard

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on November 6 notes with concern the reports that an application for approval for commercialisation of GM Mustard has been moved with the apex regulatory body GEAC (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee) in the ministry of environment, forests & climate change. AIKS demands that the government come clear on the facts of the case in a transparent manner. Bio-safety and bio-diversity should not be compromised in any manner.

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