Punjab
NDA Government and the Finance Minister has not invited the SKM leadership
New Delhi, June 19, (Daljeet Kaur ): It has come to our notice that the NDA Government and Finance Minister will be holding in-person Pre-Budget consultations with different stakeholders to solicit ideas and suggestions for the Union Budget, 2024-25 and in the process a meeting with Farmer Associations & Agriculture Economists is scheduled on 21 June, 2024.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has been submitting Memoranda on agrarian issues with proposals for resolving the acute agrarian crisis.
The All India Kisan Sabha, the largest organisation of the peasantry has always been called to place our proposals before the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices for determining Minimum Support Prices for Rabi and Kharif season. However, in this instance the BJP-led NDA Government and the Finance Minister has not invited the SKM leadership or AIKS representatives for the meeting.
It is clear from this approach that the Government is continuing to deliberately keep out the real representatives of farmers and indulging in a farcical exercise.
AIKS condemns this approach and demands that the Government talk with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha leadership. It is high time they shed their arrogance, learn lessons from the decisive rebuff in 159 constituencies in the recently concluded elections and call for talks with an open mind. In the absence of such a move, the Government must be ready to face a mass mobilisation of farmers across the country very soon.
