Farmers stage protest against Union Budget
The Hindu
DINDIGUL
Farmers affiliated to various farmers and agricultural workers unions staged a protest condemning the Union Budget 2023-24 across the district on Saturday. They flayed the government for reducing subsidies for food security and fertilizers.
Charing that the Union Budget presented recently by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman does not cater to the needs of farmers, M. Ramasamy, district secretary, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) led the protest in front of the Head Post Office in Dindigul.
“When we were awaiting an announcement of a law on Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee in the Union Budget and waiver of loans for farmers, slash on subsidies for food and fertilizers came as a big blow,” he said.
Concurring his point, K. Arun Selvan, district secretary, All India Agriculture Workers’ Union (AIAWU) who led the protest near the bus stand in Palani charged that when the farmers were already affected by increasing prices, such cuts would only result in them falling into debt traps. “The Union government has only paved the way for unemployment with the Budget,” he added.
Tension prevailed for some time when the protestors tried to burn photocopies of the Budget but were stopped by the police in Dindigul.
Similar protests were held at 12 places including Reddiarchatram, Sanarpatti, Natham, Vedasandur, Gujiliamparai etc.
The protestors demanded that the MGNREGA must be extended to 200 days and the scheme must also be extended to town panchayats, municipalities and corporations in order to provide more job opportunities. They also objected to the deletion of over 5 crore farmers from the PM-KISAN annual assistance scheme.
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