Leading the dharna will be KCR’s son and Cabinet minister KT Rama Rao and daughter and TRS member of Legislative Council Kavitha Kalvakuntla. The state government has alleged discrimination against Telangana in its paddy procurement policy.
“The Union government’s paddy procurement policy is discriminatory. Without any consultation, the Centre has decided not to procure paddy from Telangana this rabi season. The decision will impact 61 lakh farmers and their families in Telangana,” Kalvakuntla told ET.
The decision to hold a protest in the national capital follows the Centre’s decision to purchase only raw rice and not parboiled rice, which majority of the state produces. “Due to KCR government’s steps, we have implemented the world’s largest lift irrigation project and repaired ponds in every village. This has raised the water table and helped our farmers in increasing rice production. But now the Centre has decided to punish Telangana for this,” Kalvakuntla alleged. TRS has been holding protests in Telangana over the issue since last Monday.
All TRS legislators and elected representatives of urban and rural local bodies will join the protest against the Centre. “They procure both kharif and rabi crops from Punjab, but the same policy does not apply to Telangana,” said Kalvakuntla. Adding heft to TRS protest in New Delhi would be farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.
TRS has two major demands: A uniform procurement policy for the entire country without discrimination and Centre’s declaration on the quantity it intends to procure from every state at the beginning of the year. Telangana is not the first state which has faulted the Centre’s paddy procurement policy. Chhattisgarh and Odisha have also cried foul in the last two years. In Chhattisgarh, the Food Corporation of India refused to procure paddy as the state government had given a bonus to farmers.
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