Bijnor farmers boycott Govt schools, schemes meant for kids - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

In protest against the rise in the prices of sugarcane, farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor town have decided not to send their wards to schools. They have also decided to boycott benefits available to their children through various government schemes. "The government does not want to give us the right value of our produce, so we will also not take any favour from it. We have decided to stop sending our children to schools. This area has 30-35 primary, junior and high schools and over 1,000 children attend them. We have asked all these children to stay at home unless the government fixes the right value for our produce. We have also decided to stop our milk supply. While people consume 16-17 kgs of our milk, they want to loot our sugarcanes. We are also not in the mood to let our children take any polio drops distributed by the government," said Suraj Singh, a farmer. All government schools in the area have closed due to the absence of the students. "They said they will not send the children back to school unless a fair price of sugarcane is fixed," said Ajay Sharma, a teacher. Last week, Parliament was adjourned following an opposition uproar over a demand to reduce sugarcane prices. This year's poor monsoon has ravaged created a shortage for the second consecutive year.