Full fledged agri policy for Pb farmers

To ensure that the State’s beleaguered farmers reap what they sow, Punjab will soon have a full-fledged agriculture policy. The State’s Farmers’ Commission, which has been working on the same, has come up with a draft policy recommending doing away with the power subsidy to big farmers and setting up a special fund for the non-MSP crops, among other things.

Besides the eminent experts and agriculturists, the Commission has also invited the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to discuss the draft policy, before submitting the same to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

The Commission has put the draft policy in public domain from June 5 till 30, inviting any suggestions or objections over the same.

Notably, Punjab is facing acute farming crisis considering the unabated suicides by the farmers and farm labourers facing heavy debts. Even though the Congress-led Punjab Government has been providing debt relief up to Rs two lakh to the small and marginal farmers, it has proved ineffective in controlling the situation as the suicides continues.

At present, the farmers are holding a nationwide agitation against the Central Government, demanding debt waiver and right prices for their crops, among other things, by stopping supply of vegetables, fruits, and other farm products to the towns and cities — a situation which has led to spiraling prices of essential commodities.

“We have prepared a draft policy…and its main objective is to increase the farmers’ income while also taking care of the environment,” said the Punjab State Farmers’ Commission chairman Ajay Vir Singh Jakhar.

He stressed that effort has been made to provide the farmers with the right prices. “The crops which has no minimum support price (MSP), we have suggested to set up a special fund so that the farmers could be compensated during the period of recession whenever they don’t get proper price of their produce,” he said.

Jakhar said that the Commission has recommended that the farmers with more than 10 acres of land should be charged Rs 100 per horse power monthly bills on tubewell motors. “We have suggested that the income generated by the move should be utilized for the purpose of subsidy. Besides, it has also been suggested that the big farmers should not be given subsidized power,” said Jakhar.

Jakhar had earlier maintained that the Commission would come up with a simple agriculture policy, easily understandable by the state farmers. He maintained that the policy would cover agriculture and allied occupations to ensure the economic well-being of the state farmers who are affected due to different factors.

The Commission’s member secretary Balwinder Singh Sidhu said that a meeting will be held with farmers’ organizations and after that the views of the agriculture experts and economists will also be taken.

“A meeting will be held with the Niti Aayog on June 22 for which we have also invited Dr Manmohan Singh,” said Sidhu.

Sidhu said that after completing the draft, it will be given to the Punjab Government in mid-July. After that, the Cabinet will discuss the agriculture policy and approve it for tabling in the Vidhan Sabha, he added.