Resolution on farmers’ suicides at CPM congress

Friday, April 6, 2012: The CPI-M today expressed deep anguish at the continuing phenomenon of suicides among farmers in different parts of the country.
A resolution on “farmers” suicides and agrarian crisis”, adopted at the 20th CPI-M Party Congress here said the continuation of farmers” suicides across India showed that the partial debt relief package announced by the Congress-led UPA government in 2008 was a failure.
“The package completely left untouched the informal loans taken by the farmers, which constituted more than 50 per cent of the total farm debt,” it said.
The party congress demanded that the recommendations of the National Commission for Farmers to be implemented without delay and also implementing a comprehensive crop insurance scheme.
The government should institute a fund on the lines of Calamity Fund to assist farmers affeced by crop losses and it should restore subsidies and intervene in the supply of seeds and other agricultural inputs by establishing fair price retail outlets in rural areas, where quality of inputs is assured, the resolution said.
It said the largest number of farmers” suicides was happening in fives states of Maharashtra, Karntaka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Another resolution on “increasing contractorisation of workers” expressed concern at the increasing “contractorisation” of workers in various sectors of the economy, saying it had resulted in increase in the their exploitation.
“It is the central and many state governments in pursuit of neo-liberal policies which have taken the lead in imposing contractorisation of workforce.”
Contract workers were denied even the legal minimum wages and other statutory social security benefits like ESI and PF, it said.
The “resolution on unemployment” adopted at the party Congress expressed concern at the “failure” of the Indian state to ensure adequate employment opportunities for the masses in rural and urban areas.