Farmers plan Parliament gherao

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 12

Moved by a spate of suicides by the farmers across the country, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has decided to shake the ruling government out of its deep slumber by gheraoing Parliament on Thursday. The demonstrators will come on the tractors, symbolising the farming community.

The rally is aimed at drawing the attention of the Government towards the alarming situation of acute social strife existing in the rural India. There have been a number of suicides by farmers and rural youth on account of diminishing size of land holdings, debts, lack of alternate employment opportunities and increasing prices of all agricultural inputs including diesel, fertiliser, pesticide and kerosene, according to a press release issued today.

Prices of produce like paddy, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, palm and mustard oil have fallen considerably as the present Central Government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have failed to help farmers in obtaining the prices fixed by the Agriculture Price Commission and not succeeded in implementing a comprehensive crop insurance policy, the release said. Absence of procurement of agricultural produce by the Central Government has led to extreme indebtedness to middlement, who have allegiance with the ruling party, it was alleged in the press release. Unemployment among the educated and semi-educated youths in rural areas has tremendously increased making the situation explosive.

To be led by the IYC chief, Mr. Randeep Singh Surjewala, the other senior Congress (I) leaders who are likely to participate in the demonstration are Mr. Madhorao Scindia, Mr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Ms Prabha Rao, Ms Ambika Soni and Mr. Balram Jakhar.

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