October 20, 2007

To,

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

I am writing this letter to bring to your kind attention the growing unrest among the paddy growers across the country, particularly in the southern states. They are agitated over the new Minimum Support Price fixed by the Center, which has no relation to the cost of cultivation. An added cause for their unrest is the widespread feeling that the UPA government is discriminating between paddy growers vis-à-vis the wheat growers.

It is reported that the CACP has recommended an MSP of Rs. 1,000 per quintal for wheat in the coming season. Paddy growers, however, will get Rs.645 per quintal for the common variety and Rs.675 per quintal for the A grade. These are only slightly higher compared to the MSP of Rs.620 and Rs.650 respectively in the previous season.

Many representatives of farmers’ organizations have approached me to say that the MSP for paddy is way below the cost of cultivation which, according to them, is about Rs.950- Rs.1000 per quintal. This is due to the steep hike in recent years in the cost of all the inputs – power, irrigation, transportation, fertilizers, pesticides and labour.

I do appreciate the hike in the MSP for wheat. However, I feel that the concerns of paddy growers must be addressed by the government. I learn that several state governments have brought this issue to the notice of your government. I, therefore, urge you to take urgent steps to declare a hike in the MSP for paddy to Rs. 1,000 for the current procurement season.

* * *

I take this opportunity to also bring to your kind attention certain important issues concerning sugarcane growers in Andhra Pradesh. Earlier this month, a delegation of farmers from Medak district in Andhra Pradesh met me to apprise me of a unique campaign that they had undertaken to highlight the problem of kisan suicides in the Telangana region of the state. Four of them ― D. Vasant Kumar, G. Govind Reddy, K. Narayan Reddy and K. Ramulu ― had come to Delhi on a ‘Kisan Azadi Pad Yatra’, covering a distance of 1840 kms on foot in 54 days. I complimented them on their arduous pad yatra. They explained to me the numerous difficulties faced by farmers, especially sugarcane-growers, in their region.

Later, the four young activists went on an indefinite hunger-strike at Jantar Mantar to press for their demands. I met them at the venue of their protest action on 3 rd October and appealed to them to end their hunger-strike, which had entered its sixth day. They heeded my appeal.

I would like to bring to your attention their following demands:

1) Immediate debt relief to all the distressed farmers, especially sugarcane growers, in Telangana.

2) Generous rehabilitation measures for the families of kisans who have committed suicide.

3) Timebound completion of all the irrigation schemes in Telangana to lessen the burden on farmers who are today required to dig bore-wells deeper and deeper at enormous cost, often taking loans from private moneylenders at usurious interest rates.

4) Provision of easy and timely credit to farmers through banks, and mandating them to widen their network of Grameen Banks in villages.

5) Setting up of a price stabilization fund for farm produce.

6) Modification in the guidelines of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme so that kisans, especially small and marginal kisans, do not suffer labour shortage at critical times of farming operations.

7) Reforms in the functioning of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) so as to take into account the rising input prices on a district-to-district basis. Specifically, district-level representation of kisans on CACP.

8) Suitable action by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in respect of the alleged scandal in the privatization of Nizam Sugar Mills.

I do hope that your government will give serious and speedy consideration to these demands.

Regards,

Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(L. K. ADVANI)

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India,
New Delhi.