The Bharatiya Kisan Union is a leading organisation highlighting the plight of farmers. What were the issues addressed by it in the nineties and to what extent were they successful ?
(i) Higher government floor prices for sugarcane and wheat;
(ii) Abolition of restrictions on the inter-state movement of farm produce;
(iii) Guaranteed supply of electricity at reasonable rates;
(iv) Waiving of repayments due on loans to farmers;
(v) The provision of a government pension for farmers.
The BKU operated as a pressure group in politics with its strength of sheer numbers. The organisation did manage to get some of their economic demands accepted. The farmers’ movement became one of the most successful social movements of the eighties in this respect.