Agrarian crisis is a crisis of the society, humanity and civilization: P Sainath

Resolution of crisis cannot be separated from general crisis of
capitalism: Prof. Navin Chandra

Demand for 21 day special session of Parliament gains overwhelming support in Patna    

Patna: Delivering his talk on “Why farmers and farm workers are demanding a 21 day special session of Parliament, P Sainath, former rural affairs editor of The Hindu, agrarian crisis is no more about food security, farmers and farm labourers alone, it has now become a crisis of the society, humanity and civilization in a situation where over three lakh farmers have committed suicide in our country in the last 20 years. Now that it has officially been admitted that between 1991 and 2011, the number of farmers/cultivators declined by 1.5 crore as per census, it is quite clear that the wages and salary of all including legislators have increased but income of farming communities remains frozen. Some 94 per cent of the farmers’ have been kept out of the purview of income security. Sainath is also the founder editor of Peoples Archive of Rural India (PARI). The meeting on agrarian crisis was organized at Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Museum), Gandhi Maidan, Patna ahead of the upcoming Kisan Mukti March of farmers to Parliament on 29-30 November, 2018.

The meeting was chaired by Prof. Navin Chandra, General Secretary, Kedar Das Institute for Labour and Social Studies (KDILSS). In his remarks, Prof. Chandra said that resolution of the crisis cannot be separated from the general crisis of capitalism and the total crisis. The different people affected by the crisis have to show solidarity with each other to resolve the crisis.

Over 210 farmer and agricultural worker organisations of the country have given a call for this march to Parliament inspired by the example of farmers' march from Nashik to Mumbai during March 2018.

Speaking in the meeting, Satyanarayan Singh, national secretary, All India Kisan Sabha expressed his support for the Kisan Mukti March and their demand for 21 day special session of parliament. He said that we need co-operative farming not corporate farming. We need radical land reform without which current agrarian situation cannot change.

The meeting was addressed by Dr Satyajit Singh, Prof. D M Diwakar, Ravindranath Roy, Ujjawal, Raja Ram, Manoj Srivastva, , Mona Jha, Pranav Prakash, Sanjeev Kumar, Sumant, Arun and Gopal Krishna. The welcome address was given by Anamika Priyadashini. Vote of Thanks was given by Tanweer Akhtar. 

Expressing their solidarity with the Nation for Farmers and 210 farmer and agricultural worker organizations, various groups of Patna have decided to organize a signature campaign on 29 November at Dak Bungla Chowk from 11 AM to 1 PM. It has also been decided that a Jan Samwaad, Sangeet, poetry recitation and theatre performance will be organized on 30 November from 2 PM to 5 PM in Buddha Smriti Park.               

The meeting was organized by Nation for Farmers is organizing this meeting in collaboration with its friends in Bihar’s non-farmer organizations like Tatpar Foundation, Sanmat, Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation & Friendship (ISCUF), National Alliance for People’s Movement (NAPM), Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan (SSEVS), Kedar Das Institute for Labour and Social Studies (KDILSS), Chinaharan Social Development Trust, Bihar Mahila Samaj, Kisan Zindabad  & Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA). These orgainisations and participants in the meeting endorsed the demand for 21 day special session of Parliament.

For further Details: Gopal Krishna, Nation for Farmers  (9818089660), Ravindra Nath Roy, ISCUF (7633861757), Amit Kumar, Tatpar Foundation (09835893121), Ujjawal NAPM  (9532326737)