<span style='font-family:Arial'><b>Twelfth Open Letter to The Chief Minister of A.P.</b></span>
Dear Dr. YSR,
SUB: Suicide of Farmers in Andhra Pradesh! - Enact and Enforce <b>"Farmers Protection Act"? </b>
REF: My Emails on this dated, May 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and June 03, 16, 17 & 18, 2004. (for my previous mails on this, please visit Farmers Harakiri in A.P.
Your recently passed bill of Moratorium for just six months, that too only of the private loans is nothing short of a half hearted excersize or is it a great start of a greater beginning towards alleviating the misery of utterly hopeless farmer lot? Please note that the recovery agents of both private lenders and public lenders use the same kind of strong-arm tactics in their recovery excersize.
Our farmers have been hit by drought during the previous three years. They need three to four years of reprieve for loan-repayments, interest waiver, etc. along with intime quality supply of seeds, insecticides, fertilizers and good mansoons.
Current day Farmersâ deep indebtedness is the grand result of heinous crime perpetrated through the supply of 01) faulty seeds, 02) substandard fertilizers and 03) spurious Insecticides, not to speak of failure to supply seeds intime by the inefficient Seeds Supply Corporation and finally the bad mansoons of the last three years.
Save the last one, the Government can ensure all other issues by Enacting and Enforcing <b>"Farmers Protection Act"! </b>This must be on the lines of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 read with Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 etc. Under such act, crime against innocent, voiceless and generally week Farmers must be treated as the gravest of grave crimes against the society itself, as whole, and must be dealt with the culprits, accordingly.
This Act should provide for <b>âFarmers Grievances' Redressal Cells (FGRC)â </b>at Village-level, to prosecute suppliers of spurious seeds, substandard farm inputs, etc. The Act should enable FGRCs with full magisterial powers to summon, subpoena, arrest, confiscate and punish both with rigorous imprisonment and matching monetary compensation by the culprits to the affected farmers. As per the `rule-of-lawâ provisioning, there can be appeal at the Mandal/Block level and District level FGRCs. Final appeal must rest with the State FRGC or the State High Court, only where a genuine cause of appeal exists.
As for the loans to the farmers, the govt. sponsored lending hardly meets 25% of the total loan requirement of todayâs farmers. While Government should consciously try to bridge this gap, till such time private lending must be tightly regulated and must be brought under the purview of âFarmers Grievances' Redressal Cells (FGRC)â.
<b>Village Committees </b>, appointed by the gram Sabhas, must be formed to keep vigil on the activities of private moneylenders and traders of seeds and other farm inputs and shall also act as the prosecuting authority, rendering free legal aid to the Farmers.
Agricultural and meteorological Departments must be granted with latest Testing and Research Equipment.
Government Agencies must withdraw from trading of seeds and other farm inputs, if any and should confine to Inspection, Certification and Regulation of the markets of seeds, insecticides, fertilizers, etc.
Free Power to the Farmers must be replaced with highly subsidized power to farmers for farming purpose and thus ensure thoughtless or willful wastage of both water and power.
We must free the nexus of the pretty bureaucrats and traders, which has been short-changing farmer for too long More than 55% of the farmers fail to sell at the MSP on account of this nexus. Market Yards must be managed by farmersâ cooperatives, where any trader, from anywhere should be able to walk-in and shall â without farming rings of any kind âbid for & buy the farm produce on offer. These market yards must be peopled with agricultural scientists, agri-marketing professionals and cooperative managers.
<b>A comprehensive Farm Insurance Act. </b>must be Enacted and Enforced. Details can be discussed later.
The above are in addition to the suggestion made by me in my previous mails.
Thanks and look foreword to complete and speedy Redressal to the farmers,
With Warm Regards,
<b>M.P. Rao,</b>Farmers Harakiri in A.P.
Dear Dr. YSR,
SUB: Suicide of Farmers in Andhra Pradesh! - Enact and Enforce <b>"Farmers Protection Act"? </b>
REF: My Emails on this dated, May 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and June 03, 16, 17 & 18, 2004. (for my previous mails on this, please visit Farmers Harakiri in A.P.
Your recently passed bill of Moratorium for just six months, that too only of the private loans is nothing short of a half hearted excersize or is it a great start of a greater beginning towards alleviating the misery of utterly hopeless farmer lot? Please note that the recovery agents of both private lenders and public lenders use the same kind of strong-arm tactics in their recovery excersize.
Our farmers have been hit by drought during the previous three years. They need three to four years of reprieve for loan-repayments, interest waiver, etc. along with intime quality supply of seeds, insecticides, fertilizers and good mansoons.
Current day Farmersâ deep indebtedness is the grand result of heinous crime perpetrated through the supply of 01) faulty seeds, 02) substandard fertilizers and 03) spurious Insecticides, not to speak of failure to supply seeds intime by the inefficient Seeds Supply Corporation and finally the bad mansoons of the last three years.
Save the last one, the Government can ensure all other issues by Enacting and Enforcing <b>"Farmers Protection Act"! </b>This must be on the lines of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 read with Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 etc. Under such act, crime against innocent, voiceless and generally week Farmers must be treated as the gravest of grave crimes against the society itself, as whole, and must be dealt with the culprits, accordingly.
This Act should provide for <b>âFarmers Grievances' Redressal Cells (FGRC)â </b>at Village-level, to prosecute suppliers of spurious seeds, substandard farm inputs, etc. The Act should enable FGRCs with full magisterial powers to summon, subpoena, arrest, confiscate and punish both with rigorous imprisonment and matching monetary compensation by the culprits to the affected farmers. As per the `rule-of-lawâ provisioning, there can be appeal at the Mandal/Block level and District level FGRCs. Final appeal must rest with the State FRGC or the State High Court, only where a genuine cause of appeal exists.
As for the loans to the farmers, the govt. sponsored lending hardly meets 25% of the total loan requirement of todayâs farmers. While Government should consciously try to bridge this gap, till such time private lending must be tightly regulated and must be brought under the purview of âFarmers Grievances' Redressal Cells (FGRC)â.
<b>Village Committees </b>, appointed by the gram Sabhas, must be formed to keep vigil on the activities of private moneylenders and traders of seeds and other farm inputs and shall also act as the prosecuting authority, rendering free legal aid to the Farmers.
Agricultural and meteorological Departments must be granted with latest Testing and Research Equipment.
Government Agencies must withdraw from trading of seeds and other farm inputs, if any and should confine to Inspection, Certification and Regulation of the markets of seeds, insecticides, fertilizers, etc.
Free Power to the Farmers must be replaced with highly subsidized power to farmers for farming purpose and thus ensure thoughtless or willful wastage of both water and power.
We must free the nexus of the pretty bureaucrats and traders, which has been short-changing farmer for too long More than 55% of the farmers fail to sell at the MSP on account of this nexus. Market Yards must be managed by farmersâ cooperatives, where any trader, from anywhere should be able to walk-in and shall â without farming rings of any kind âbid for & buy the farm produce on offer. These market yards must be peopled with agricultural scientists, agri-marketing professionals and cooperative managers.
<b>A comprehensive Farm Insurance Act. </b>must be Enacted and Enforced. Details can be discussed later.
The above are in addition to the suggestion made by me in my previous mails.
Thanks and look foreword to complete and speedy Redressal to the farmers,
With Warm Regards,
<b>M.P. Rao,</b>Farmers Harakiri in A.P.