Protest held against proposed amendments to Land Reform Act

Terming the proposed amendments to the Land Reform Act as barbaric, members of Karnataka Raitha Sangha (AIKKS), staged a protest in front of the DC's office in Madikeri on Monday and opposed the move by the Central and the state governments.

The protestors alleged that the governments have been sacrificing the farmers' interests to protect the interests of corporates.

By introducing amendments to the Land Reform Act, attempts are being made to hand over agricultural lands to corporate tycoons, which is condemnable. The decision of the government will prove to be detrimental to the farmers, they said.

Speaking on the occasion, Karnataka Raitha Sangha state unit president D S Nirvanappa said that the farmers have been experiencing losses due to the Covid-19 situation in the country.

What was the necessity to propose amendments to the Land Reform Act in this situation? he asked and criticised the Central and state governments. Instead of finding solutions to the problems of the people in this troublesome period, it is implementing dangerous policies of liberalisation.

He also condemned the idea of the Central Government to move an amendment through an ordinance.

"The Centre is snatching autonomous status of the state governments by forcefully introducing new laws and amending the laws such as the Land Reform Act, which actually come under the purview of the state governments. The same move was made by the Centre in the case of the GST Act," he added.

He meanwhile urged the state government to scrap the amendment to the APMC act.

Urging the government to provide 50 kg rice and other necessary items per month free of cost, he also said that the Central government should provide Rs 25 lakh to the dependents of the migrant labourers who breathed their last while moving to their native places, during the lockdown.

"The daily wages under MGNREGS per day should be hiked to Rs 300 and the number of days should be increased to 200. M S Swaminathan report should be implemented. The revenue lands should be taken back from the forest department. The people who have been carrying out farming in the forest lands, from the last three generations, should not be evicted. Forest rights act should be implemented effectively," Nirvanappa added.