Karnataka sugarcane farmers demand fair prices, Call for government action
Karnataka sugarcane farmers expressed their disappointment that the prices they received were lower than those in other states. All India Sugarcane Farmers Federation chief D. Ravindran, while speaking at the State Conference of the Sugarcane Growers, held at Kalaburagi on Sunday, September 29, 2024, condemned the current mechanism of pricing for being inappropriate.
“Karnataka's sugarcane growers are receiving a lower price despite producing higher-quality cane with better sugar recovery rates than their counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” Ravindran said. “In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the sugar recovery rate is less than 8.5%, farmers get ₹2,750 and ₹2,870 per tonne, respectively. However, in Karnataka, despite a sugar recovery rate of over 10%, farmers receive less. This is an injustice to Karnataka’s cane growers.”
The issue has sparked protests across the state, with farmers demanding the introduction of a State Advised Price (SAP) to ensure fair remuneration.
Ravindran emphasized the importance of unity among farmers in their fight for fair compensation, noting that sugarcane cultivation costs between ₹2,700 and ₹2,900 per tonne. With 74 sugar mills in Karnataka, 61 of which are privately owned, he accused these private mills of cheating farmers and offering unfair prices.
Ravindran further criticized the Union Government’s proposed amendment to the Sugarcane (Control) Order of 1966, which, he argued, would restrict states’ autonomy over the sale of sugar and its by-products and remove the 14-day payment rule for farmers after harvest. “This amendment is anti-farmer and should not be allowed,” he said.
Ravindran also mentioned the implementation of SAP, which protects farms, and the success of those laws in the other two states, Punjab and Haryana. He proposed that the sugarcane with a sugar recovery rate of more than 9.5% be fixed at ₹5,500 a tonne, and he urged the Karnataka government to implement similar regulations. Additionally, it introduced legislation that ensures growers will receive 50% of the profits from sugarcane byproducts.
T. Yeshwanth, the association's state secretary, agreed and added that the government is more focused on sugar mill owners than on farmers. He continued by saying that the government had virtually completely disregarded an order it had passed giving the go-ahead for all of these mills with ethanol production facilities to pay farmers ₹150 per tonne.
The conference was attended by a number of farmer leaders, activists, and union representatives, including M.B. Sajjan, Dalit activist Sudham Dhanni, and Sharanabasappa Mamshetty. All of these individuals expressed their solidarity and support for sugarcane farmers in their fight against the unfair compensation practices.
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Minor girl out with friend raped in MP forest; truck driver, associate held
Raisen (MP), Nov 24: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a truck driver while his two associates restrained the teenager’s male friend in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district, an official said on Sunday.
Police have arrested two persons, including the truck driver, in connection with the alleged crime committed in Siyarmau forest on Silwani-Sagar Road, some 110 km from the district headquarters, on Saturday evening, he said.
The teenager and her 21-year-old male friend were returning after visiting the Vandevi temple in the area when they parked their two-wheeler and entered the forest, said Silwani’s Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anil Maurya.
At the same time, a truck broke down following which its driver, later identified as Sanju Adivasi (21), and his two friends also went inside the forest, where they spotted the girl and her friend.
The trio thrashed the young man and snatched the key of his motorcycle, he said, citing the FIR.
The driver took the girl deep inside the forest and allegedly raped her, while his associates restrained her friend, the official said.
After the three accused left, the girl and the youth walked to the road and alerted some policemen who were passing by.
Police registered a case against Sanju Adivasi and his associates Shivnarayan Advasi and Akshay Ahirwar under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 64 (rape), 70-1 (gang rape) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.
Sanju and Shivnarayan have been arrested, while Ahirwar is on the run, the official said.
