Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Monday said the farmers are not “stupid” to realise the scheme launched just two months before the Lok Sabha elections for a “meager amount”.

“₹6,000 per year amounts to ₹17 per day. A farmer will be able to have only tea and coffee with that amount. Do you think the farmer of this country is stupid that he will fall for this?” he said.

The PM on Sunday had rolled out the first instalment of the cash scheme in Gorakhpur.

Speaking at Network 18’s Rising India Summit, Nath said,” Giving ₹6,000 to a farmer per year who has a lakhs debt in three instalments, does it make sense? It’s a hard fact; a farmer lives and dies in debt,” he said.

Taking another dig at the Centre, Nath said how many of the cabinet ministers been to rural India or “contested elections.”

Talking about the announcement of farm loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh, Nath said 25 lakh farmers will be relieved of their debts in the next 10 days. HTC

Later at the summit, PM Modi said: “Yesterday we kick started PM-Kisan. And it makes me happy that in two days we adhered to farmers and then today, the war memorials for my brave soldiers. The government is going to directly put in ₹6,000 into back accounts of farmers to help them buy seeds and fertilisers. The govt will put in ₹70,000 crore into bank accounts of farmers. We have also made this scheme leak proof. We have removed the concept of ‘kachha’ and ‘pucca’ receipts.”

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First Published: Feb 25, 2019 23:47 IST