Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) will celebrate Farmers’ Day on December 23 by unveiling a statue of late farmer leader K.S. Puttannaiah and holding a district-level farmers’ convention against the anti-farmer policies of the Centre and State governments.
KRRS leader Badagalapura Nagendra told reporters here on Thursday that December 23 was Puttannaiah’s 76th birth anniversary as well as the Farmers’ Day. The statue unveiling will take place at the Ilwala Santhe Maidan, followed by a convention of farmers and the passing of resolutions against the government’s anti-farmer policies.
Office bearers of KRRS, its women’s and youth wings, as well as representatives from KRRS in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Ramanagara, Hassan, and Dakshina Kannada districts, will participate in the programme.
‘Dangerous policies by Centre’
Five years after the historic agitation by the farmers in the national capital that forced the rollback of three anti-farmer agricultural laws, the Union Government was now attempting to introduce “even more dangerous policies,” viz, National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing 2025, draft Seeds Bill 2025 and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025.
“These are being pushed aggressively for implementation,” said Mr. Nagendra while expressing concern that the policies, if implemented, will severely damage India’s farming culture and hand over the entire agricultural sector to corporate companies. “Farmers will lose their livelihood security and be left at the mercy of corporations,” Mr. Nagendra feared.
He urged the Congress party, which had opposed the anti-farmer policies at the Centre, to decide against implementing these policies in Karnataka. “Otherwise, the farmers will conclude that there is no difference between the BJP and the Congress,” he said.
The KRRS has voiced its opposition to any agreement with the United States in the upcoming trade deals that would flood the Indian market with American cotton and its byproducts, besides the byproducts of American dairy and fish.
“This will devastate Indian farmers and push them into poverty. A united and organized struggle must be launched against these policies of the Centre,” Mr. Nagendra said before alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was reportedly succumbing to the U.S. pressure.
Mr. Nagendra sought to remind the Congress government in the State about the promise it made in its 2023 Assembly elections manifesto to withdraw the Land Reforms Amendment Act and the Cattle Slaughter Prohibition Act. He urged the State government to withdraw both the legislation in the upcoming winter session of the State Assembly and declare that the Centre’s anti-farmer policies will not be implemented in the State.
The KRRS leader urged the government to immediately open paddy procurement centres. Though the registration for paddy procurement had begun, the procurement centres had not been opened yet. As harvesting had already started, the government should immediately open the procurement centres, he said.
He further urged the government to purchase rice, ragi, jowar, oilseeds, and pulses that were required for the Public Distribution System (PDS) directly from the farmers.
Published – December 04, 2025 07:00 pm IST
