National Conference on Agrarian Crisis and Alternative Policies to be held on 11, 12 July

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) together with All India Agriculture Workers Union (AIAWU) will organize a national conference on ‘Agrarian Crisis & Alternative Policies’ on 11 and 12 July, 2019 in Hyderabad.

T Sagar, General Secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangham (a constituent body of All India Kisan Sabha) said that “The conference will explore the role of peasant, worker and social cooperatives in building alternatives to the existing system, MSP or minimum support price & minimum wages to reverse the crisis in agriculture”.

Finance Minister of Kerala, T M Thomas Issac will inaugurate the conference on Thursday. AIKS President Ashok Dhawale will also participate in it. As many as 200 delegates from different regions of the country will attend the two-day conference.

He said the meeting is being organised in the back drop of global downturn and its impact on India’s economy as a whole & on agriculture and rural development.

He also said, “The cultivators need to mobilize themselves around specific crops, establish collective ownership on agro processing industries & retail market to remove the exploitation”.  He said, “The crisis in agricultural sector is reflected in rising indebtedness, farmer suicides, large scale migration & lack of economic viability in farming”.

An AIAWU leader said, “Developing struggles to launch cooperative movement will give ample space to mobilize growers. We need to encourage cooperatives beyond political affiliations & we will extend all support to peasantry in that endeavour”.