MANGALORE April 23: The South Kanara Beedi Workers’ Federation, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and the S.K. Beedi Workers’ Federation, affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), have declared their support to Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate B. Madhava, who is contesting from Dakshina Kannada constituency.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday S. Chandappa Anchan, secretary, S.K. Beedi Workers’ Federation, said that of an estimated seven lakh beedi workers in the State, four lakh workers were in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

Raise issues

He said that Mr. Madhava was the executive president of the All India Beedi Workers’ Federation. If elected, he could raise issues on behalf of beedi workers in Parliament.

Mr. Anchan said that many issues concerning beedi workers remained unresolved. Only 2.39 lakh of the seven lakh beedi workers were getting provident fund benefits.

The government had not yet set up a sub-office of welfare fund commissionerate in Mangalore.

He said that the National Democratic Alliance government brought in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. The UPA government subsequently revised its rules resulting in a ban on smoking in public places.

Urged

Beedi workers have been urging the government to exempt beedis from the purview of the Act.

The Act has affected many beedi workers. The plight of beedi workers and providing them alternative employment has not been discussed much in Parliament, he said.

He said that there was a need to bring in legislation to pay uniform wages for beedi workers in the country.

The government should also assist beedi workers to build houses and provide scholarships to their children, he said.

Mr. Anchan said that the workers would also support CPI(M) candidate Radha Sundaresh in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency.

President, South Kanara Beedi Workers’ Federation, J. Balakrishna Shetty and secretary Sukumar Thokkottu were present.

Choose Third Front candidates: KPRS

MANGALORE: The Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS) affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has appealed to people to vote for Third Front candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, State president of KPRS Maruti Manpade said that the appeal was being made mainly to prevent farmers from committing suicide in the country.

Mr. Manpade alleged that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had failed to prevent suicide by farmers.

As many as 1,58,424 farmers had ended their lives in the country during the NDA government’s rule and more than 70,000 farmers committed suicide during the UPA government’s regime. In Karnataka, during the 10 months of BJP rule 2,000 farmers had committed suicide, he claimed.

Mr. Manpade claimed that the Third Front could provide succour to farmers.

He alleged that the “corporate agricultural policy” adopted by the BJP and the Congress had led to sycg suicides in the country.

Mr. Manpade said that the CPI (M)-led government in Kerala had implemented Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission Act, 2006. This Act prevented pledging agricultural land to moneylenders and waived loans farmers had availed from moneylenders. It had helped in preventing farmer suicides in Kerala. The same kind of law should be framed at the national level, he said.

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Mr. Manpade said that farm suicides were linked to increased production cost of agricultural commodities. The NDA and UPA governments withdrew government investments in power production and irrigation sectors, chemical fertilizers’ production sector and agriculture technology sector. This paved the way for entry of private enterprises into these sectors. As a result the cost of agriculture inputs and equipment went up which ultimately led to increased cost of production of agriculture commodities, he said.

Mr. Manpade claimed that of 73 lakh agricultural families in Karnataka approximately 68 lakh families avail loans from private moneylenders for agriculture purposes.

He alleged that the Karnataka State Credit Plan prepared by SyndicateBank was weak.

Mr. Manpade claimed that in some parts of Dakshina Kannada such as Ullal, moneylenders charged 10 per cent interest a month on Rs. 1,000 loan. This was exorbitant, he said.

He said that the government should provide Rs. 150 as minimum support price for arecanut growers in the State.

Mr. Manpade said that there was need to bring in an integrated agriculture policy in the country. The law related to setting up of special economic zones (SEZs) should be amended to protect agricultural lands in the country, he said.

State secretary of KPRS U. Basavaraj was present.

Hindu