The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition staged a walkout protest in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on January 31 (Wednesday), accusing the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of doing little to mitigate the existential crisis plaguing the declining rubber-growing sector in the State.
Nevertheless, the treasury benches and the Opposition fleetingly found common ground in holding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government primarily accountable for the waning plantation sector in Kerala.
Joint agitation against Centre
Before leading his party out of the House, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan signalled that the Opposition would possibly join hands with the ruling front to agitate against the Central government’s refusal to avail itself of protections under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) agreement to seek countervailing anti-dumping measures to protect local rubber production by restricting or banning the import of rubber compound and latex for the next 10 years.
Adjournment debate
Earlier, introducing a motion seeking the leave of the House for an adjournment debate on the subject, Kerala Congress (Joseph) legislator Mons Joseph said he partially agreed with Agriculture Minister P. Prasad’s position that the Central government’s disregard for the livelihood and economic welfare of 13 lakh small-scale rubber farmers and their dependents in Kerala, and the BJP’s alleged affinity to tyre manufacturing conglomerates had ruined the cash crop sector which was once the backbone of the State’s agrarian economy.
Mr. Joseph said dejected farmers were abandoning plantations in droves. The number of tapping days had dwindled. Cultivators were switching over to other crops. Many faced recovery notices from banks due to their inability to repay agriculture loans they had availed of for replantation.
He said the crisis precipitated by plummetting rubber prices due to the Centre’s “anti-farmer import policy” has rendered thousands of small-scale growers vulnerable to extortion by loan sharks.
LDF blamed
Mr. Joseph said the LDF had done nothing to mitigate their distress. Instead, the government sought to blame the Centre for its failures.
Mr. Joseph demanded that the State hike the minimum support price for rubber to at least ₹250 for a kg. He slammed the LDF for allegedly shutting down the website for rubber farmers to claim production incentives.
Rubber Board is moribund: Prasad
Mr. Prasad replied that the government would use borrowings outside the Budget, including resources raised from the global finance market under the Rebuild Kerala initiative, to boost Kerala’s growing rubber sector.
Mr. Prasad said the Centre-funded Rubber Board’s offices in Kerala were moribund. The board had shifted its attention to subsidising and promoting new plantations partially controlled by tyre conglomerates in the north-eastern States. The Centre had increased the duty-free import of rubber by 40% in the past few years, causing grievous injury to domestic growers.
Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty said rubber prices were slated to fall further with plantations acquired by an international consortium of tyre manufacturers in Ivory Coast reaching production capacity.
He said the Union government hesitated to collect the vast fine (₹1,788 crore) slapped by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on tyre manufacturers for “cheating” rubber growers.
Both the fronts slammed the Centre for repealing the Rubber Act of 1947 and supplanting it with “an anti-farmer” rubber promotion and development law.
Speaker A.N. Shamseer denied the Opposition’s motion.
