Farmers' Protest: Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Saturday said that the government can call a special session of the Parliament and make a law on legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). Pandher's statement has come as thousands of farmers continue to camp at the Punjab-Haryana border, protesting against the Centre to press for their various demands.
"If the government wants, it can call a special session (of Parliament) and make a law. As far as issuing an ordinance is concerned, it is a political decision. If the Cabinet wants, an ordinance on legal guarantee to purchase crops can be issued immediately," Pandher said during a presser.
"They (government) announced (MSP) for 23 crops but purchases only 2-3 crops. We want to end the loot by corporates (in buying crops) as the first step," Pandher added.
"I believe that if the government seriously focusses on the consumer and producer and focusses a bit less on the corporates, then this whole issue can be sorted," the farmer leader mentioned.
Third round of talks with farmers meaningful, says Union Minister Anurag Thakur
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth & Sports Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur, said that the third round of talks with the farmers' organisations was meaningful.
“We will sit together again on Sunday.” Thakur said.
“The government had invited farmers' organisations for talks. Many farmer leaders came and very meaningful discussions took place. We together have scheduled the next talks for Sunday. I am confident that there will be a good atmosphere on Sunday as well. There will be talks and we will move towards resolving the issues," the minister told reporters.
No govt worked as much for farmers as Modi govt did, says Union Minister
Commenting on the work done by the Centre, Thakur said, "No government has done more than what the Modi government has done in the last 10 years on fertiliser, water, procurement at MSP, cheap loans from banks and compensation.
“In 2013-14, when the UPA government was in power, the agriculture budget was Rs 27,662 crore. Now the agriculture budget of the Modi government is more than Rs 1,25,000 crore, which is five times more than the agriculture budget of the UPA period.
"At that time there was no Kisan Samman Nidhi. We have transferred Rs 2,81,000 crore directly to the bank accounts of more than 11 crore farmers through Kisan Samman Nidhi."
The minister added, “The farmers got nothing under the crop insurance scheme of the UPA period. They have received compensation of more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore under the Modi government. Out of 10,000 FPOs, 8,000 have been formed and lakhs of farmers have also joined them.”
On MSP, Thakur said, “During the time of the Congress-led government, the total purchase of wheat, paddy, pulses and oilseeds was Rs 5,50,000 crore. The Modi government made a purchase of Rs 18,39,000 crore, which is almost three-and-a-half times more. This shows that we increased the prices and also made purchases more than double.”
Further sharing information about the work done by the Modi government in the interest of farmers, the Union minister said, "The Modi government spent one-and-a-half times more, i.e., about Rs 15 thousand 500 crore, for irrigation schemes.
"During the time of Congress, agricultural loans were only Rs 7 lakh crore, which we have increased to Rs 20 lakh crore. And this is only the figure of last year. At that time, the export was worth Rs 2,62,000 crore, while under our regime, export has been scaled up to Rs 4,27,000 crore.
"Similarly, if you compare our performance in any other area, Congress will look completely pale in comparison."
With inputs from IANS
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