- February 4, 2023
Reduction in allocation for labour, social sectors: All India Kisan Sabha calls for observing Black Day on February 9 | India News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: Protesting against the extensive reduction in allocation for MNREGA, food subsidy, fertilizer subsidy, insurance, irrigation, agriculture, labour and all other social sectors, in the Union budget, farmers and agricultural workers will be observing a Black Day on February 9, said CPM-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Hannan Mollah, while addressing the media here on Saturday.
As a mark of protest, farmers plan to burn copies of the budget and effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hold dharnas and demonstrations across the country, Mollah said.
“The Budget 2023-24 has been a seamless attack on the poor people of the country especially the peasantry and the working class and petty producers. The social sector expenditure that is necessary to enhance income and employment for the producing classes and thus to ensure expanding purchasing capacity of the people has been slashed without any sense of the social reality,” the AIKS statement said, while highlighting that in the last 8 years of Modi regime, India’s position in the global poverty index has declined from 55 to 107 rank.
Addressing the press conference Mollah said, the farmers expected that the distressed farm sector will receive much-needed relief in form of an announcement of Minimum Support Price (MSP) as per the Swaminathan Commission report but it handed out complete disappointment and apathy by almost cutting Rs 2.5 Lakh crore and shifting it to capital expenditure section.
“The centre has been abandoning its promise of forming a committee to ensure guaranteed MSP, and withdraw cases booked during protests, agitations, and rail roko appeals for more than a year. We hoped that it would come with something positive in this budget but it failed miserably,” he added.
Mollah was referring to the letter written by then-farmer welfare secretary Sanjay Agarwal at the culmination of historic farmers’ struggles at the borders of Delhi.
As a mark of protest, farmers plan to burn copies of the budget and effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hold dharnas and demonstrations across the country, Mollah said.
“The Budget 2023-24 has been a seamless attack on the poor people of the country especially the peasantry and the working class and petty producers. The social sector expenditure that is necessary to enhance income and employment for the producing classes and thus to ensure expanding purchasing capacity of the people has been slashed without any sense of the social reality,” the AIKS statement said, while highlighting that in the last 8 years of Modi regime, India’s position in the global poverty index has declined from 55 to 107 rank.
Addressing the press conference Mollah said, the farmers expected that the distressed farm sector will receive much-needed relief in form of an announcement of Minimum Support Price (MSP) as per the Swaminathan Commission report but it handed out complete disappointment and apathy by almost cutting Rs 2.5 Lakh crore and shifting it to capital expenditure section.
“The centre has been abandoning its promise of forming a committee to ensure guaranteed MSP, and withdraw cases booked during protests, agitations, and rail roko appeals for more than a year. We hoped that it would come with something positive in this budget but it failed miserably,” he added.
Mollah was referring to the letter written by then-farmer welfare secretary Sanjay Agarwal at the culmination of historic farmers’ struggles at the borders of Delhi.
