New Delhi: The Congress attacked the Narendra Modi government on Thursday, accusing it of "betraying" farmers by only announcing minimum support price but never procuring their produce at those rates. It claimed the government has turned MSP into "maximum suffering of the producer" which proves that the BJP has "anti-farmer DNA".
A day after the Union government announced the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for the Kharif Season 2023-24, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala claimed that not only was the MSP far less than what the farmers should ideally get, the government makes very limited purchases even on this meagre price.
At a press conference, he said the government had promised to fix the MSP of various crops after computing the input costs plus 50 per cent profit following the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The MSP announced by the government nowhere reaches that amount, Surjewala claimed, adding that even at this "low" MSP there is hardly any purchase of crops.
"When there is no intention to procure crops on MSP, what is the purpose of announcing it? MSP under the Modi government has turned into 'maximum suffering of the producer (farmer)'," he said. The actions of this government for the last several years have proved the BJP was made of "anti-farmer DNA", Surjewala said.
"The Modi cabinet pretends to announce MSP for Kharif crops. But, there are bitter truths related to this. Farmer's crop is not bought at all on MSP in India, farmer does not get 50 per cent profit on cost. Every policy and DNA of the Modi government is anti-farmer," he alleged. He claimed that the agriculture budget in 2020-21 was 4.41 per cent of the total budget, while in 2023-24 it was reduced to 2.57 per cent of the total budget.
In the last four years, the Modi government did not spend around Rs 80,000 crore from the budget of the agriculture ministry, he claimed, adding the names of two crore farmers were removed from the list of Kisan Samman Nidhi beneficiaries. Under the "Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi" (PM-KISAN) scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to eligible farmer families, payable in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000.'
Surjewala said that of the 1,302 lakh tonnes of paddy produced in 2022-23, the government purchased only 651.70 lakh tonnes which was only 50 per cent of the total produce. The position of wheat procurement was much worse. Of the 1,068.4 lakh tonnes of wheat produced last year, the government procured only 187.92 lakh tonnes which comes to a meagre 17.59 per cent on the MSP, the Congress leader said.
Similarly, only 0.13 per cent of oilseeds, 0.43 per cent of pulses and 0.26 per cent of jowar, bajra, ragi and corn were procured at the MSP, he claimed. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter, "The Modi government had made two promises to the farmers of the country -- fixing the MSP at cost plus 50 per cent profit and doubling the income of farmers of the country by 2022. Both promises turned out to be false."
"The PR hungry Modi government, which is pretending to increase the MSP on Kharif crop does not buy crops on MSP at all. The budget for agriculture was cut," Kharge said. He also alleged that the government has removed the names of two crore farmers from the list of Kisan Samman Nidhi beneficiaries. After announcing the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore, only Rs 12,000 crore was given in the last three years, he said.
"Nine years of the Modi government has become a curse for 62 crore farmers of the country," the Congress chief said. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a tweet in Hindi, said "No cost plus 50 per cent profit. No buying at MSP. No double income." "In nine years of the BJP government, what did the farmers get except jumlas in elections, lathis on the back and kicks on the stomach?" she posed.
Surjewala said PM Modi came to power by making two big promises to the farmers - 50 per cent profit plus cost will be given as MSP and farmers' income will be doubled by 2022. Going by the CACP report, the Modi government neither fixed MSP on any crop by giving 50 per cent profit on cost nor accepted the recommendations of the BJP-ruled states, he claimed.
Citing official data, he said that following the 50 per cent input cost plus 50 per cent profit, the MSP of paddy should have been Rs 2,867 per quintal against Rs 2,183 announced by the government. BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra had recommended Rs 2,750, Rs 3,132 and Rs 4,534 per quintal MSP for paddy. But the Centre rejected these recommendations, the Congress leader said. Similarly, there were huge gaps between the input costs and the MSP announced by the government on other crops such as jowar, bajra, corn and moong, Surjewala alleged.
The Congress general secretary alleged that not only had the Modi government cut down massively on the agriculture budget it also did not spend even the left out amount. Of the total budget, the allocation for agriculture for 2020-21 was only 4.41 per cent while it was reduced to only 2.57 per cent in the subsequent budget, Surjewala claimed.
He said what was shocking was that the Modi government has surrendered Rs 80,000 crore of the budget of the agriculture ministry in the last four years as it did not spend that amount. The government surrendered Rs 34,518 crore of agriculture budget in 2019-20, Rs 23,825 crore in 2020-21, Rs 429 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 19,762 crore in 2022-23, Surjewala said.
"When you don't have to spend it on agriculture, why allocate it? If this is not betrayal with 62 crore farmers of India then what is?" he asked. Surjewala also sought to know what happened to the Rs 1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure development fund announced by Prime Minister Modi three years ago. The Congress leader said the time had come for the prime minister to answer the questions of 62 crores farmers "who were feeling betrayed by him". (PTI)
