 Hello and welcome to People's Dispatch. India has been one of the countries that has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, although we don't know the exact extent to the spread so far, and there is speculation that the number of cases right now might be underreported. There is also a lot of concern about the socio-economic impact on people, especially the farmers in the working class. Yesterday, that's Thursday, the Indian government announced a $23 billion. That's 1.75 lakh crore financial package for various sections. There were basically amounts announced that would go to the farmers, to the workers. There was the announcement that rations and food would be provided, but there's also been a lot of criticism that these steps are not enough considering the magnitude of poverty in the country. To talk more about this, we have with us Viju Krishnan, the All-India-Kissan Sabha, which is a farmers organization from India. Thank you, Viju, so much for joining us. Viju, to start with, could you tell us what has been the response? What is your organization's response, especially to the package that was announced yesterday? One of the key announcements was that nearly 2,000 rupees would be given to farmers in the month of April. And there was also announcements of provisions of rice, of pulses and gas, it's cooking gas being supplied to the farmers, to poor people across the country. But I think that there's been a lot of discussion about how this is inadequate, so could you talk a bit about it? I think it is too little and too late. This should have come before the Prime Minister's address and before the lockdown, these things should have been put in place in a much more inclusive manner. That has not happened. Here, the top of 2,000 rupees is going to the farmers. You see the numbers itself, earlier they had mentioned that 14.5 crore farmers would benefit from the Pradhamanthi-Kissan Samhaan lady. But now what is happening is the number given is something like 8.7 crores. Almost 6 crore farmers have just vanished. I don't know how these numbers they've got to. The other thing is already this 2,000 person installment was due for the farmers. It's nothing new. So what we have demanded is that the entire 6,000 should be immediately given. There should also be that the farmers should be provided with free seeds for the next season and so on. There are such demands that we have made. For the agriculture workers also, it is just a 20 rupee increase and every year there is some increase which is being made. But here you find this 20 rupees spittance. We have made a specific demand that use the unemployment wage clause within the Rural Employment Guarantee Act and then provide all agricultural workers at least 300 rupees per day. That is the demand that we have made. There are issues regarding the ration and so on. Also the quantity has to be increased. The pulses, there is 1 kilo for a family is not enough. You need to also include other things, essentials like cooking oil, vegetable oils I mean and then also sugar and salt and such things into the ration system. It is very important to ensure that while the pandemic itself has reached a dangerous proportion, we must also ensure that hunger does not emerge as a even bigger killer. So another key question is the fact that from the reports you have received, so far what has been the actual impact on the ground on farmers' livelihoods especially with the harvest season coming up and the issues in transport. You have already heard reports of farmers being unable to sell some of their produce and general chaos especially in the rural areas. Actually you see in large parts of India, this is the almost nearing harvest of wheat, harvest of different kinds of pulses. For instance, chana is ground as being almost for harvest, chili, different crops and there is also the issue of the perishables like milk, fish, fruits, vegetables and flowers. There is absolutely no possibility because of this lockdown that has been implemented and farmers require this harvest to be done otherwise the entire investment, toil and capital over the last almost a year that goes down the drain. That is one issue and the Kerala government has come with an innovative scheme which talks about how harvesting of paddy is treated as an essential service and the government will assist in ensuring that the farmers' sending crops are not destroyed. Here now we are faced with the threat of these sending crops being destroyed because already unseasonal rains have led to a damage of lot of crops and farmers are facing the threat of wild animals, stray cattle, damaging these crops. This is also an issue. So we have demanded that there should be a relaxation of the lockdown and with proper protocol being ensured, there should be alloying of harvest from the farmers. There should be marketing also facilities because milk is milk and other perishables. You have to sell immediately so that the government should put in place something to ensure that the country is going to stay at a much bigger crisis of a bigger magnitude where people will be starving to death. There is also the issue of credit and debt because I think a lot of the steps of the government also seem very short-term as in their immediate handing out cash for instance. But what about the question of the long-term agricultural cycle itself especially considering the nature of the crisis in India? See actually even the announcement of 170,000 crores or around 23 billion dollars we have been demanding in the interim within a month to every individual 5000 rupees that would come to more than double of the package announced for the entire country yesterday. The other thing is you require to help the financial package for the states to address the issues of the farmers, the agriculture workers, migrant workers. You are having a huge crisis where the migrant workers are just left to fend for themselves. Nothing has been done by the central government and even many state governments have actually paid. I think a successful model has been in place in Kerala. You have lessons to learn. This is not time for political bickering. One has to learn lessons from successful models. You have to have a longer plan because it cannot be just an interim one month or two months. Certain things that have very clearly come out now, the need for nationalizing health that is something which is very important. The need for much bigger investment in rural development and agriculture itself, that is something which is required. These also have to come into the narrative though it is in the long run. These are surely issues which have to be taken up. Organizations like ours have been making these demands. We are going to further try and impress upon this government to be much more sensitive. This cannot be at this only as a health epidemic and lockdown alone is not the answer. It has to be accompanied by a series of other measures which cannot be just shot. It has to continue in the long run. Thank you so much for talking to us.