Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala claimed that the Modi government has been working "for doubling the income of the farmers" adding, "Rs Rs 2,16,000 Crore has been given to them in the past eight years". Slamming the Congress-led-UPA government, the minister said it had a budget of Rs 1,17,000 Crore for ten years but when the BJP government came into power, it significantly increased the budget in order to double the income of the farmer.
Furthermore, the Union Minister said that the Modi government has transferred Rs 2,16,000 Crore through Direct Benefit Transfer In Agriculture Mechanization (DBT). "Under UPA Govt, the agriculture budget for 10 yrs was Rs 1,17,000 Cr. During eight years of PM Modi's government, money transferred to the accounts of farmers through DBT was Rs 2,16,000 Cr. Looking at this one figure, you can understand the priorities of the government, said Rupala.
Also, the minister said that the policies made by the Congress government were totally based on increasing the productivity of crops but after the saffron party came into power, it altered the approaches as per the development of farmers. "Our agriculture policy till 2014 focussed on productivity. But for the first time, besides productivity, PM Modi took up income too -productivity is rising but what is the farmer earning? Doubling of farmers' income was discussed and this brought a major change Union," he added.
Farmer protests
Irrespective of what the minister claimed, Samyukt Kisan Morcha staged a protest against the government, demanding to provide a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for all the crops that should be set at a profit margin of 50 per cent. Besides, SKM leaders also demanded a comprehensive and effective crop insurance scheme to speedily compensate farmers for crop loss due to natural calamities and farmers' pensions of Rs 5,000 per month to all marginal, small and medium-scale farmers and agricultural workers.
(With inputs from agency)
