“Sanctioning loan waivers to our farmers is not the way forward to deal with the crisis that the country is facing in this area today,” said S.S. Palanimanickam, DMK, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during the discussion on demands for grants under the control of the Ministries of Rural Development and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare 2019-20.
He said the agriculture sector had to grow at 4% annually to ensure a robust economy. “In India this sector has failed to become self-sufficient which is a cause of worry.”
Attacking the government, Mr. Palanimanickam said farmers were lagging every other profession. “The BJP said they would be doubling the income of farmers but they are only repeating the slogan because there is a big gap between their saying and action,” he said.
“I am sure that in the next election also, you will be repeating the slogan. We were expecting loan waiver but that did not happen...You are just giving peanuts to farmers.”
On the PM Kisan Yojna, under which the government gives ₹6,000 per annum to farmers, he said it was a small amount.
He suggested that if the government wanted to double the farmers’ income, they must give special importance to sectors like dairy, poultry and fishery.
Hasnain Masoodi, JKNC, Anantnag (J&K) said the allocation in the Budget for the welfare of farmers was the second most disappointing feature, the first being the price of petrol and diesel.
“This will have a devastating impact on the farmers. Though the manifesto of the ruling party promised that many benefits will be given to farmers, very little has been done for them. Moreover, very little has been done to protect farmers from money-lenders and banks,” he said.
Amol Ramsingh Kolhe, NCP (Shirur, Maharashtra), said the BJP had promised a complete loan waiver in their manifesto and any deviation meant that they were playing with the lives of the farmers.
“India is spending much less on agricultural research than countries like the U.S., China, Brazil,” said Reatesh Pandey, BSP, asking for more focused approach to improve the situation of the farmers. He also raised the issue of mob lynching saying it had adversely impacted the cattle trade.