Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha sought to corner the Centre on the issue of agrarian crisis on Tuesday, accusing it of floating policies that were detrimental to farmers’ interests. However, defending the Narendra Modi government, members from the BJP and its allies hailed the “pro-farmer” initiatives taken under his leadership.
Prabhat Jha, Parshottam Rupala, Ram Narain Dudi, Sanjay Raut and La. Ganesan praised the government’s efforts in various areas including crop insurance, minimum support price, irrigation facilities, while attributing the present condition of farmers to the policies of previous governments. There was a record production in the past three years, said Mr. Jha.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh accused the government of being insensitive towards the problems of the distressed farmers. He said the agriculture sector that formed 50% of the GDP had now shrunk to just about 16-17%.
Mr. Singh said the BJP cleverly set the target for doubling farmers’ income by 2022, hoping that it would retain power at the Centre in 2019. He said the Prime Minister’s pre-poll promises on 150% price to farmers, as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee, had not been implemented yet, nor were the suggestions of the Ramesh Chand Committee on Minimum Support Price.
Highlighting the increase in farmer suicides, Mr. Singh criticised the government’s move to reduce import duty to 0% when there was a bumper wheat production. He said it rather helped foreign suppliers. He contested the policy of non-procurement in cases where States gave bonuses, saying that it resulted in “scarcity” and subsequent imports despite the fact that there was no shortage.
Mr. Singh said that in 2014-15, import of agricultural goods stood at ₹134 crore, which increased by 6,623% in 2016-17 to ₹9,009 crore. Mr. Singh also targeted the government for its new insurance policy, which, he alleged, benefited only private companies. The Congress leader also alleged that there was corruption in the Food Corporation of India and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India.
Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav said successive governments had failed to address the issues plaguing the sector. He sought adequate budget allocation and use of technology for efficient farming. He also raised the issue of depleting groundwater and 28% GST on items like tractors and pumping sets, also asking for more food processing units to prevent wastage of perishable items like fruits, vegetables and meat, amounting to about ₹60,000 crore annually.
Derek O’Brien (Trinamool Congress) suggested that the West Bengal model be adopted to increase farmers’ annual income, stating that between 2010 and 2016, it had risen from ₹91,000 to over ₹2 lakh in the State, where farmers were not required to pay anything under the insurance scheme.
D. Raja of the Communist Party of India sought quick settlement of river water disputes and interlinking of rivers, particularly in reference to the acute water shortage in Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Jha and Mr. Raut praised the BJP-led governments in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra for pro-farmer measures, including the recently announced loan waiver schemes. Mr. Jha listed a series of schemes launched by the Centre for the benefit of farmers.