The All-India Agricultural Workers’ Union and Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union will stage a protest in Kalaburagi district on Monday with a charter of 28 demands to the Union government.
Union leaders Maula Mulla and Bheemshetty Yempalli addressing presspersons on Saturday demanded that work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act be extended to 200 days and revise the wages to ₹600 per day. The government should introduce a pension scheme for agriculture labourers who have attained 55 years.
Mr. Mulla urged the government to introduce caste-based reservation for employment opportunities in the private sector and provide ownership rights to farmers engaged in cultivation on ‘bagair hukum’ land in forest areas. The demands also included effective utilisation of Special Component Plan and tribal Sub-Plan (SCP-TSP) for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and concrete measures to generate employment, and minimum monthly wage of ₹21,000 for workers.
They also opposed the government’s move to privatise primary education and health sector.
