RSS-affiliated farmers’ body to stage protest against Centre

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), an RSS-affiliated organisation, will stage a protest against the Centre at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi today over the non-fulfilment of its demands. 

The BKS has been reportedly upset with the government over its long-pending demands because of which the organisation will stage a protest today afternoon. Some of the demands of the farmers’ organisation are that all agricultural inputs be made GST free, an increase in the amount of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi in proportion to the increased cost of farming, subsidy in food besides providing financial assistance to farmers through DBT and irrigation and river link projects. 

The BKS has demanded the allocation of more funds for the purpose. BKS has been making many other important demands including promotion of organic farming in the country for several days along with raising the need to increase the income of the farmers.  

BKS has been raising the demand for developing 22,000 haats in Gramin Agricultural Markets (GRAM) for the past several days.  BKS demands that the Kisan Credit Card limit be increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Cardholders should be given a license to set up micro-processing food units without the requirement of a certificate from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Acquiring FSSAI certification is a long and challenging process. The government already has the data of Kisan Credit Card holders and on the basis of this, they should be given licenses to become entrepreneurs.