Anna to attend farmers’ rally in city tomorrow

BHUBANESWAR: Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazaare would attend a Jai Kishan Mahasamabesh (farmers’ convention), organised by the farmer body Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) at the PMG Square here on Tuesday.

Besides Anna, Magsaysay award-winning water conservationist Dr Rajendra Singh Rane and noted Gandhian activist PV Rajgopal would also address thousands of farmers of the State in the convention, confirmed NKS coordinator Akshaya Kumar on Sunday.

Anna will reach here at 9.40 am and will address the farmers at 11 am at the rally venue, said Akshaya Kumar and added that Anna will attend a Press conference at Arya Palace hotel in the evening.   

In the convention, the NKS would call upon all the political parties and candidates contesting the general elections to include agriculture in their election manifestos as a first priority. “Whoever forms the Government, they have to solve farmers’ problems,” said Akshaya Kumar, adding, “If the Government does not pay heed to our demands, we the farmers of the State will dethrone it.”

The NKS has been demanding that the State Government ensure remunerative prices for agricultural produces instead of giving a mere minimum support price (MSP). It also demands that the Government amend the relief code in order to adequately compensate farmers for crop loss.