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P. Krishna Prasad

P. Krishna Prasad is the finance secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane) and the former CPI(M) MLA from Sulthan Bathery.[1][2][3][4][5] He is also the chairman of Brahmagiri Development Society, a worker – peasant cooperative in Kerala.[6]

P. Krishna Prasad
LeaderFormer MLA, Finance Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane)
ConstituencySulthan Bathery (State Assembly constituency)
Personal details
Born25 May 1967
Political partyCommunist Party of India (Marxist)
Alma materSt. Joseph's College, Devagiri, Kozhikode

Life

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P. Krishna Prasad was born on 25 May 1967 to Kuttikrishnan Nair and Devakiamma in Sulthan Bathery.[7] He did his bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College, Devagiri. His wife A R Sindu is a prominent political activist. She is the General Secretary of the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers.[8] She is one among the 15 women in the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist).[8]

Political career

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Student politics

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P. Krishna Prasad entered politics through Students' Federation of India. He became the Calicut University Union Chairman in 1987–88.[7] He was later elected as the All India President of Student' Federation of India in 2000 at Chennai Conference.[7][9]

Electoral politics

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In 2006, P. Krishna Prasad defeated N. D. Appachan, the sitting MLA of Sulthan Bathery and won by a margin of 25,540 votes.[3][5] He therefore became the only CPI(M) leader to get elected after P. V. Varghese Vaidyar. As per the political history of Sulthan Bathery, except for 1996–2001 and 2006–11, the tenure of P.V. Varghese Vaidyar and P. Krishna Prasad respectively, Bathery constituency remains a confident hold of Indian National Congress.

No. Year Constituency Winner Votes Political Party Runner-up Votes Political Party Margin
1 2006–2011 Sulthan Bathery (State Assembly constituency) P Krishna Prasad 63092 CPI(M) N D Appachan 37552 Democratic Indira Congress 25540

Peasant leader

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P. Krishna Prasad is associated with All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane) and Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA).[10] He came out strongly against the violence of cow vigilante groups and argued that their actions badly affected the livelihood of small and marginal farmers.[10] After visiting the body of Gajendra Singh, a distressed Rajasthani farmer who committed suicide in front of Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi Chief Minister), Prasad and his organisation demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation for farmer's family in 2015.[11] He was part of the two-day colloquium on "Corporate Concentration in Agriculture and Food", organized by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Focus on Global South and Alternative Law Forum.[12] He is a proponent of value addition in agrarian sector to combat the crisis faced by farmers, so that farmers get better price for their labour.[12] He blames Congress party for the high rates of farmers' suicide in Wayanad during their rule.[13] He was one of the major organisers of Kisan-Mazdoor Sangharsh rally which culminated at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi on 5 September 2018.

Cooperative movement

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P. Krishna Prasad is one of the major proponents of the cooperative movement in India. He is the chairman of the Wayanad-based Brahmagiri Development Society (BDS), a cooperative aiming to combat the agrarian crisis in Kerala by organising solidarity economy among peasants and workers. BDS is a social cooperative of more than 13,000 farmers.[14][15] In agriculture, meat production and dairy, the BDS has enhanced significant self-sufficiency.[16][17] The brain behind Brahmagiri Development Society (BDS) is P.V. Varghese Vaidyar, the former CPI(M) MLA from Sulthan Bathery. Both in the electoral politics and cooperative movement Krishna Prasad is true successor to Varghese Vaidyar.

In 2010, Krishna Prasad initiated a ten day long agricultural expo by organizing cooperatives.[18] He was one of the important organizers of the National Workshop for Agrarian Crisis and Alternative Policies which was held on 11 and 12 July 2019 in Hyderabad. The workshop explored the potential for Cooperatives in the battle against agrarian crisis.[19] His study along with Jose George on "Agrarian Distress and Farmers' Suicides in the Tribal District of Wayanad" has set a pathway to understand the Agrarian society of rural Wayanad.[20] Under his leadership BDS has recently launched comprehensive projects to help out Coffee Farmers in distress.[21] The branding of Wayanad Coffee was part of this initiative.[14][22]

References

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  1. ^ "P KRISHNA PRASAD(CPM):Constituency- Sultans Battery(Wayanad) – Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  2. ^ "2006 Kerala Legislative Assembly election", Wikipedia, 2020-05-09, retrieved 2020-05-09
  3. ^ a b "Sulthan Bathery (State Assembly constituency)", Wikipedia, 2020-05-09, retrieved 2020-05-09
  4. ^ "Krishnaprasad wants Revenue Dept to publish 'fac". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-09.[dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Kerala Assembly Election Results in 2006". www.elections.in. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  6. ^ "BDS to open 1000 outlets in Kerala in a year". The Economic Times. 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  7. ^ a b c "Krishna Prasad (MLA)" (PDF). Kerala Legislative Assembly. 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  8. ^ a b "Delhi-based Kerala woman in CPM central body". OnManorama. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  9. ^ "Students' Federation of India", Wikipedia, 2020-05-09, retrieved 2020-05-09
  10. ^ a b "'Trade curbs, attacks on dairy farmers hit cattle economy'". @businessline. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  11. ^ "Farmer suicide: All India Kisan Sabha asks government to provide Rs 10 lakh to kin". The Economic Times. 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  12. ^ a b "Battling Corporate Concentration in Agriculture". NewsClick. 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  13. ^ Rajeev, K. R. (April 1, 2019). "Wayanad hopeful to shed the 'backward' tag". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  14. ^ a b "Kerala: Export in tatters, farmers brew up own coffee brand | Kozhikode News". The Times of India. 2020-05-03. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  15. ^ "Kerala's Communists Are Showing India a Path Out of Poverty". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  16. ^ "Innovative Solutions: How poultry farming is alleviating farm distress in Kerala". The Indian Express. 2020-01-20. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  17. ^ "Brahmagiri Development Society: Society gets Rs 10 crore government aid to up meat output". The Times of India. February 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  18. ^ Staff Reporter (2011-02-25). "Brahmagiri Fest begins". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  19. ^ "Hyderabad to host 2-day national meet on agrarian crisis from July 11". The Hindu Business Line. 10 July 2019.
  20. ^ George, Jose; Krishnaprasad, P. (2006). "Agrarian Distress and Farmers' Suicides in the Tribal District of Wayanad". Social Scientist. 34 (7/8): 70–85. ISSN 0970-0293.
  21. ^ Staff Reporter (2019-11-01). "Project to enhance income of coffee farmers in Wayanad". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  22. ^ Rajeev, K. R. (October 25, 2019). "Wayanad coffee to hit the market in March 2020". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
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