Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, October 28,  assured that the party, once voted to power at the Centre, would do away with Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handlooms to provide succour to the weavers.

He also promised to provide land rights to the tribal farmers of Telangana once the Congress comes to power in the state in the next year’s assembly elections. Gandhi, who was on the third day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, had an interaction with weavers and tribal farmers at Gopalpur Kalan village of Devarkadra block in Mahabubnagar district for more than an hour.

“You do not have to wait for too long. We will come to power at the Centre and the state soon and solve these problems. We will ensure that GST is removed on handlooms. We shall also provide title deeds of the lands being cultivated by tribal farmers, once we come to power in Telangana,” he said.

The weavers of Telangana have been protesting against imposition of GST on handloom textiles and their raw material. The Telangana government, too, recently wrote a letter to the Centre asking for removal of the GST on handloom products.

A woman weaver brought to the notice of Gandhi that the GST on handlooms and raw materials would cripple the weaving sector. “During the Congress period, yarn subsidy used to reach the weaver. That system does not exist anymore. Similarly, the state cooperative organisation used to buy directly from weavers. That, too, does not happen anymore,” she said. Similarly, tribal farmers during their interaction with the Congress MP, spoke about the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. They explained to him about the status of assigned land and lack of title deeds for their lands where they take up Podu cultivation (shifting cultivation).

Sunil Kumar of National Law School and Research (Nalsar) summed up the problem of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. “Three major issues afflict the tribal farmers of Telangana. One, over 3 lakh applications are pending for recognition of forest land. Two, tussle between government departments, mainly forest and revenue departments, due to which 1 lakh tribal-farmers are suffering. Three, forest department is delaying recognition of forest land which is affecting approx. 25 lakh farmers in the state,” he explained to Gandhi.

                Source: HT