Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, promised on Friday that if his party were elected to power at the federal level, it would eliminate the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handlooms to help the weavers. In addition, he pledged to grant land rights to Telangana’s tribal farmers if the Congress wins the state’s assembly elections the following year.
Gandhi interacted with weavers and tribal farmers at Gopalpur Kalan village of Devarkadra block in Mahabubnagar district for more than an hour while he was on the third day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana.
“The wait time is not that long. Soon, we will take over as state and federal leaders and address these issues. We’ll see to it that the GST is eliminated for handlooms. Once we regain control of Telangana, we would also provide title deeds for the territories being farmed by tribal farmers, he added.
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Telangana’s weavers have been protesting the implementation of GST on handloom fabrics and the materials used to make them. Recently, the Telangana government also requested in a letter to the Centre that the GST on handloom items be eliminated.
Gandhi was informed by a female weaver that the GST on handlooms and raw materials would destroy the weaving industry. “Yarn subsidies used to be given to weavers during the time of the Congress. That system is no longer in use. The state cooperative organization also used to purchase straight from weavers. That no longer occurs either, she noted.
Similarly, tribal farmers discussed the execution of the Forest Rights Act of 2006 with the Congress MP during their conversation. They informed him of their assigned land’s status and the absence of title deeds for the lands on which they practise Podu farming (shifting cultivation).
The issue with the application of the Forest Rights Act was succinctly stated by Sunil Kumar of the National Law School and Research (Nalsar). The tribal farmers of Telangana are plagued by three main problems. One, there are currently over 3 lakh applications awaiting recognition of forest land.
The second is a conflict between government agencies, primarily the tax and forest departments, as a result of which 15,000 tribal farmers are suffering. In addition, the forest department is holding up the recognition of forest land, which is having an impact on about 25 lakh farmers in the state, Rahul Gandhi stated.
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Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, according to AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh, is receiving a resounding response. His padayatra has been joined by a number of MPs from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Odisha, he claimed.
According to Rahul Gandhi, he had been mingling with various groups of people and had come to grasp the local reality. Instead of limiting himself to strolling, Ramesh stated, “He is interested on meeting the common folks on the route.”
