New Delhi: The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of 180 farmers' organisations has once again written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the crops based on C2 + 50% (comprehensive cultivation cost plus 50 per cent), recommended by the National Commission on Farmers headed by M S Swaminathan.
The agriculture sector also got badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown which has been implemented to contain its spread. Due to this, the farmers' organisations have started demanding special packages for the farmers who are facing a crisis due to a decrease in the demands.
However, the Ministry of Agriculture has claimed that Rs 18134 crore has been released under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in the account of more than 9 crore farmers across the country since March 24.
In a letter to PM Modi, the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh claimed that the agriculture and allied sectors employ 70% of the people and the corporate sector employs only 2.3% of the people. According to a report, in the year 2018, total credit of 10 lakh crore was given to the agricultural sector by banks but up to 22 lakh crore credit was given to the capitalist houses.
The RKM alleged that that the Union government had failed to keep its promise of basing the MSP on the formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.
"The farmers of the nation have become indebted due to the wrong policies of the government and its failure to keep promises. Hence, we demand a complete loan waiver and basing the MSP on C2 + 50% formula," the letter said.
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