'Implement Swaminathan Comm suggestions'

Mangalore, Nov 7: The Akhila Bharata Raita Sangha today demanded that the UPA Government at the Centre strictly adhere to the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee in the best interests of farmers.

Addressing a raitha jatha, which had entered Dakshina Kannada district after touring Kerala, Sangha General Secretary Varadarajan said the liberalisation and globalisation policies had worsened the plight of Indian farmers. The untimely rain and drought in some parts of the country had pushed the farmers into debt trap, forcing many to commit suicide. During the last nine years, 1,34,321 farmers had committed suicide in the country, including 2,700 this year.

He said the UPA Government was adopting a path similar to that of the previous NDA Government by implementing ''anti-farmer'' policies. On the one hand, the Centre had announced a minimum support price of Rs 700 for wheat, but on the other it had taken steps to import nine lakh tonnes of wheat at Rs 1,100, he noted.

UNI