Rohtak farmers gear up for SKM protest

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 24

Local farmers have started gearing up for the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) proposed protest on February 26, in which tractors would be parked along highways across the state.

Farmers, along with activists of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), today discussed the possible parking locations and chalked out strategies to mobilise people’s support to make the protest successful.

The SKM is demanding that the Centre must quit the World Trade Organisation (WTO), claiming that the Centre is not providing MSP due to WTO policies. “The SKM will observe February 26, the day of WTO conference in Abu Dhabi, as ‘Quit WTO Day’. The WTO is responsible for forcing India not to grant MSP to farmers and withdrawing PDS by arguing for direct transfer of benefit. Both proposals are detrimental to farmers, poor people, and food security and sovereignty of India,” said Inderjit Singh, a senior AIKS leader.

“Our aim is to mount pressure on the Centre for accepting our demands. We do not want people to face any inconvenience due to the protest. The points for parking the tractors will be finalised within a day or two and residents of nearby villages will be contacted to participate in it,” he said.

“People are being deliberately misled that it is the government alone that will have to bear the entire cost if a legal guarantee for MSP purchase is accepted, which is untrue. The corporates were extorting ‘super profits’ by purchasing raw material on cheaper rates and selling it on exorbitant prices, while refusing to share the profits with producer farmers,” he added.