LS shuts down over sugarcane

MIGHT IS RIGHT: Thousands of farmers arrived in Delhi on Thursday to protest against sugarcane price ordinance.

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New Delhi: The first day of Parliament's winter session on Thursday was rocked by protests from Opposition parties against Centre's sugarcane price move that discourages states from fixing higher prices.

As soon as the session began after obituary references to nine former members and with Speaker Meira Kumar condemned the Naxal attacks in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and Chhattisgarh's Bastar regions, the entire Opposition raised the sugarcane price issue.

Lok Sabha was first adjourned till 1200 hrs IST after Opposition parties and even some United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents came out against the Union Government's new ordinance to replace statutory minimum price for sugarcane.

The ruckus continued even after the Lok Sabha met again following which the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

The Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), and even UPA ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) joined hands to oppose the ordinance.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who led the protest in Lok Sabha, blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for the farmers' protest.

"We are fighting for the country. Congress and this government have ruined the country and farmers. Prime Minister and Sharad Pawar are equally responsible for the plight of the sugarcane farmers," said Mulayam.

Following uproarious scenes in the Lok Sabha Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Union Minister for Law M Veerappa Moily to discuss sugarcane prices.

Sources indicated that Union Government is willing to discuss the sugarcane ordinance changes with Business Advisory Committee of Parliament.

Meanwhile, eminent agriculture scientist and member of Parliament M S Swaminathan demanded that a committee of experts be set up to decide sugarcane prices.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav too sided with farmers saying other political parties should have been consulted before new prices were levied.

"This should be corrected or we will see that the bill is not passed in the Rajya Sabha. The UPA did not consult other parties or farmers. They took a one-sided stand. It is unjust to farmers," he said.

The ordinance fixes the fair remunerative price for sugarcane at Rs 130 per quintal, much below the Rs 280 per quintal that farmers have been demanding.

Earlier, thousands of sugarcane farmers launched massive protests in Delhi to coincide with the opening day of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Tens of thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh, a major sugarcane growing area of the country, arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning to protest against the sugarcane pricing ordinance.

The protest march by farmers rally belonging to the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Bhartiya Kisan Union Tikait and Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, started at the Ramlila ground and will culminate at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi.

They have also threatened to block all routes to Parliament and have warned that things could get ugly over the next few days if the new ordinance is not amended.

The majority of the farmers were from Bagpat, which is Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh's home town.

The protest is against the ordinance promulgated to amend sugarcane control order that would replace the statutory minimum price mechanism.

"The government is looting us. We have never had a government that is so anti-farmer till now. We will march to the capital if our demands are not met," said a farmer Shyam Singh.

Due to the protest march there is the big traffic jam at National Highway 24, Rajghat, Tolstoy Marg, Jantar Mantar, Connaught Place, Gazipur and MG Road.