New Delhi July 7 (FN Agency) Congress on Thursday alleged that the Modi government is trying to bring the “anti farm laws” from the back door, and said the government is to exploit the farmers and poor by nurturing big corporate houses in the country. Addressing a press conference here at party headquarters in New Delhi, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said, instead of fulfilling the promises made to the farmers, this government is cheating them and bringing anti-agriculture laws through the back door. He said that in order to end the farmers’ movement, the government has promised to double the income of farmers by setting up committee on Minimum Support Prices (MSP), remove false cases against farmers and withdraw the Electricity Amendment bill, now the government has turned back from these promises and is not taking any step in this direction.
Hooda said Congress party will support the decision by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to launch a series of nationwide protests against the refusal of the BJP government to implement reasonable demands. “The BJP government’s irrational agricultural trade policy is also endangering Indian food security” he alleged. Hood said that the government has slashed wheat allocations for ten states, including BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh that were among the biggest beneficiaries of the UPA’s National Food Security Act.” These states are paying the price for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s usual quest for personal glory at the expense of Indian citizens” he added.
He referred to Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand’s call on Wednesday for a “serious rethink” of MSPs and said this suggests the government is willing to follow the path to destroy the system. Hooda said it was akin to rubbing salt into the farmers’ wounds. Hooda said the wheat procurement has reached a 50-year low if it is calculated on per capita availability. He added the government’s data claims the stock has been the lowest in 15 years. The Congress even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh criticized the government’s erratic import and export announcements that only hurt farmers and perversely increased the country’s dependence on imports. He alleged that farmers are burdened both by a shortage of fertilisers as well as climbing fertiliser prices, which has also been affecting crop sowing.” DAP prices have gone from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,350 per 50 kg bag while NPKS prices have gone from Rs1,290 to Rs1,400. This is costing farmers an additional Rs 3,740 crores” he alleged.