Curb inflation, lower prices but don’t hurt farmers: RSS leader

Speaking at an RSS event — “International Conference on Harnessing Indian Agriculture for Domestic and Global Prosperity” — in Delhi, Hosabale said: “The link between inflation and food prices needs to be pondered over. Prices of industrial products rise… but people feel food and clothes must come at lower prices. It is among basic needs and should be affordable.”

He said, “The objective of agriculture is to produce sufficient nutritious food for all. Everyone must get nutritious food, so its prices must not increase. Otherwise some people will not get it. So government cooperatives have to play a role in this. The gaps need to be filled,” RSS said.

Hosabale also said, “The farmer must benefit from doubling the farmer scheme. He does not always get a guaranteed income; we must think about the social respect he gets.”

Flagging concern about a rapidly urbanising India, he said, “India is urbanising fast — more than 52 per cent population lives in cities today. If India’s villages start disappearing, the civilisation and culture that we speak of with such great pride will be impacted. So we have to ensure people live in villages; we have to strengthen agriculture and allied industries.”