'Amendment to Karnataka's Land Reforms Act will spell doom for farmers'

Opposing the BJP government’s decision to introduce amendments to Karnataka Land Reforms Act, Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee Spokesperson A C Vinayraj said that the amendments will spell doom for marginal and small farmers. The amendment will enable any non-agriculturist to buy farmland.

The farmers will be reduced to farm labourers after the corporates purchase the land, he told media persons in Mangaluru on Wednesday.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who took oath in the name of farmers, is conspiring against the farmers by bringing in amendment. It is a conspiracy against the farmers. The amendment would pave the way for the real estate mafia and realtors will buy land from small and marginal farmers and develop them into sites for property business, he alleged.
Farmers who sell land will become farm labourers and will also have an impact on the food security of the state, he added.

Misusing the lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic period, the government is planning to bring in amendment by passing an ordinance without discussing it in the Assembly. The amendment is anti-farmer in nature and does not mention what action the government will take if the land purchased by corporates are not used for farming activities.

He urged the government to strengthen the farming community by supplying them with seeds, fertilisers and announcing a good price for farm produce. The government should promote the advanced system of farming and provide irrigation facilities to the farmers, to take up farming activities without any hurdle.