The Farmers Joint Action Committee Manipur on Tuesday resolved to launch a statewide campaign against the three new farm laws and support the demands raised by the All India Kisan Sangrah Coordination Committee against Farm laws.
The resolution was taken during, ‘The Manipur Farmers Meet’ organised by the Committee at Rup Mahal Theatre Imphal on Tuesday. It also prepared a charter of demands which will be submitted to the chief minister of Manipur and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking at the occasion, a farmer from Punjab Manjinder Singh Randhawa said that farmers in Manipur should join hands in supporting the protest of the farmer protest in Delhi. He said, “We will bear all expenses for farmers in Manipur if they wish to join the farmers protest in Delhi.”
Unless all the farmers in the country come together and protest as one, their grievances and demands will not be heard, Manjinder said. The three farm laws are against the farmers, thereby annihilating the farmers’ wishes and their aspirations, he added.
Kisan Congress Manipur president L Thoiba questioned the end goal of the newly introduced three farm laws.
Mentioning that corporates like Ambani and Adani have been dreaming of capturing the Indian agricultural products and its markets since a long time, he said that such dreams of the corporates will come true with the implementation of the new three farm laws.
"Indian farmers will be deceived for the time being, and the whole Indian agricultural markets will later fall into the hands of the corporate," he said.
Farmers in the country will become employees and the BJP sponsored corporates will be the employer once the three farm laws are introduced in the country, he said. He urged the people of the state, particularly the farmers to thoroughly analyse the consequences of the three farm laws.
The charter of demands includes providing agricultural services (fertilisers, diesel, electricity etc.) at a subsidised rate to the farmers in time and effective implementation of Conservation of Paddy land and Wetland Act, 2014 and to repeal Conservation of Paddy land and Wetland (Amendment) Act, 2019.
It also included repealing the Loktak Lake Protection Act-2006 and to compensate the Loktak Project affected farmers, implementing Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960 in toto in valley areas of the state.
The demands also included constituting of an Agricultural Produce Market Committee in the state, compulsory procurement of all agricultural goods by the government and expansion of agricultural lands and water bodies of the state.
Upgrading of existing dams in the state to facilitate agricultural areas and to protect migratory fishes by constructing fish ladders and passages and that no new dams should be constructed in the ecologically important region of Manipur were also included.
It also resolved to demand that the foothills region of Manipur should be declared as Community Forest Areas.
ALSO READ
'Forest department, CVOs must work together to protect forest'
‘Farmers should focus on cultivating bamboo’
Farmers lack awareness on benefits of mushroom farming
