Anna Hazaare to attend farmer’s convention in Bhubaneswar on Apr 1

--Include agriculture as 1st priority in election manifesto: NKS

BHUBANESWAR: Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazaare will attend Jai Kishan Mahasamabesh, a farmers’ convention, organised by the Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) at the PMG square here on April 1, said NKS coordinator Akshaya Kumar at a Press conference here on Sunday.

Similarly, Magsaysay award-winning water conservationist Dr Rajendra Singh Rane and noted Gandhian activist PV Rajgopal will also address thousands of farmers of the State in the convention, Kumar said.

The NKS, an organisation fighting for price, prestige and pension for farmers, came to limelight after its members entered into Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence on December 17, 2012. The members of the organisation were also surprisingly protested the State Government inside the heavily guarded Assembly on December 16 last year and also staged demonstration by blocking Chief Minister’s convoy on December 24 last year for which reason 26 activists were arrested under section 307 of IPC.

The members have been demanding the State Government to give proper value on prices of agricultural produces to farmers instead of giving a mere minimum support price (MSP). They had also demanded the State Government to amend relief code in order to help farmers of the State after crop loss.

In the convention, the NKS would call on all the political parties and candidates contesting the General Election to include agriculture in their election manifesto as 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 them.”

NKS co-coordinator Seshadev Nanda said they have completed 50 days padyatra in 10 districts to make people aware about the real situation of the farmers in the State. “We found cotton mills, sugar mills and several agriculture-based industries in a defunct condition. There is no irrigation facility in several areas of the State for which farmers are migrating to different cities of the country to work like labourers,” Nanda said, adding, “Now we want commitment from the parties to solve the dangerous problems of farmers, if they voted to power.”