Join the 'Annada Runa Abhiayana'In support of  Raitha Sangharsha Jaatha 

July 21 – Aug 03

Call for Volunteers! 

Come, let us stand shoulder to shoulder with
our toiling farmers!

Dear All,       

This is an invitation to all to join hands in a campaign to exhibit our gratitude towards our farmers!

    Farmers who fulfill our hunger, who feed all of us, are committing suicide every day; they are sacrificing their lives for mistakes which they have not committed, for reasons which they are not responsible for; they are losing lives because they are not getting proper price for their produce. In Karnataka as many as 60 farmers have committed suicide during this season (April-July). While the prices of seeds and fertilizer prices continues to shoot upwards, the produce which farmers grow with lot of difficulties, are not getting a suitable price. Sugarcane waiting to be crushed, sugar factories which play with the lives of sugarcane growing farmers, politicians who are least bothered about the problems of farmers, who force the farmers to commit suicide and who are only interested in going on foreign trips, the government which doesn’t exhibit any interest in solving the problems of the farmers, WTO agreements which are just nothing but pro-capital agreements  - All these have forced the farmers to commit suicide!       

    Is it right on our part to remain silent witnesses to this? How can we continue enjoying ourselves while the farmers who feed us are committing suicide? While the persons who are responsible to address the grievances of the farmers are not responding, as citizens of this country is it not our responsibility to atleast think about them?   

Friends,
This is a campaign to show our gratitude towards our land and our farmers, come let us go to the villages! Let us listen to the grievances and problems of our beloved farmers, let us instill hope among them. Their frustration should not lead them to suicide but towards a fight for their rights! Come, let us raise our voice! Let us try to exhibit our gratitude in small ways possible!      

This campaign aims to tell our farmers that they need not bear the  brunt of this crisis alone, that they are not the ones to be blamed for this agricultural distress and that they don’t need to commit suicide for this. This campaign intends to tell the farmers that ‘solution to the problem lies in struggle, not in despair.’ Farmers’ organizations, pro-people groups and several others are supporting this campaign. This campaign will be focussed on Mandya district since this district has seen the maximum number of suicides in recent months.          

The ‘Raitha Sangharsha Jatha’ will commence on July 21(Farmer Martyrs Day) at10 am, from Gejjalagere village in Maddur taluk, Mandya district . It can be recalled here that in an incident which occurred some time ago, at Gejjjalagere village, several farmers had lost their lives in police firing, during a farmers’ agitation. Puttatayamma, the wife of one of the farmers who was killed in that firing will inaugurate the jatha. The jatha comprising 10 teams, will cover 750 villages, in all the taluks in Mandya district in the next 10 days.   

    We are in search of youth, citizens and activists who are interested to join us in visiting villages. Any number of volunteers for such a campaign is not too less. Hence we request all to participate in large numbers. 

How can you support the campaign?

1)        Spend atleast some time, anything from 1 day – 10 days with the campaign in the villages of Mandya district. Also mobilise volunteers to participate in the campaign.

2)        Spread word about the campaign in colleges, workplace, your neighbourhoods  and social media

3)        Mobilise people of Bangalore to come to the final event  of the campaign – a protest outside the Mandya DCs office on August 3, Monday

4)        Support the campaign financially (details in attachment)

5)        Join the study team which will be visiting families of farmers who committed suicide to bring out a report , which will be submitted to the DC on Aug 3

6)        Do background research to support the campaign (largely through the internet)

Please contact Vasu (9945516267) or Mallige(8892939771) if you want to participate in the campaign 
                

A campaign of Karnataka Jana Shakti

Contact: Karnataka Janashatki Pustaka Mane, 1st Cross, Ashoknagar, Mandya, B. Krishnaprakash – 8553329979, Ravikumar – 7353770205, Chaitra – 8884512891. E-mail: janashakthikarnataka@gmail.com  Join us in our facebook page ‘annada runa abhiyana,’  - website: http://annadarunaabhiyana.blogspot.com