Cong flays govt for paying lip service to farmers as LS takes up Demands for Grants

The Lok Sabha took up the Demand for Grants for for Rural development and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for 2019-20 on Tuesday.
Initiating the debate, Congress said the NDA government was only ‘paying lip service to farmers’ and demanded that the agriculture related things including fertilizers, manure and seeds should be exempted from GST or kept in the lowest slabs.
However, BJP lawmaker Ramapati Ram Tripathi hailed the initiatives taken by the Modi government to help the farming community double their income by 2022.
Congress member Uttam Kumar Reddy from Telangana alleged the flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi was a failure.
Under the PM-Kisan, 120 million small and marginal farmers who have less than 2 hectares of landholding will get up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support.
Mr Reddy said PM-Kisan has failed on two accounts — It failed to reach the largest crop area and has reached 26 per cent crop area only and secondly, it did not reach in time.
He said the Revised estimate in Agriculture ministry saw a 29 per cent shortfall from Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 53,000 crore.
Everyday 30 farmers were committing suicides in the country, he alleged, adding that farming community was facing existential crisis.
National Crime Records Bureau has stopped giving data on farmers’ suicides, so it was difficult to know the real numbers, he maintained.
‘There were 2.1 crore tenant farmers in the country with no access to financial institutions and banks. When their commercial crops failed and all that debts on them, they are committing suicides,’ he said.
They should be protected and given legal sanctity, he stated.
About government’s claim that farmers’ income will double by 2022, he said half the time has passed, was there any report about it.
He also alleged that crops were being sold less than the MSP in states.
Scale of cotton was marginally above the cost of production and demanded that MSP should be raised.
BJP fielded its Deoria MP from Uttar Pradesh Ramapati Ram Tripathi, who hailed the multi-pronged initiatives taken by the Modi government to help the conditions of farmers and the rural India.
In reference to Rs 6,000 financial assistance provided to farmers, he said the initiative has helped small and marginal farmers.
The new scheme to also help common landless farm labourers is another visionary step, he said.
The move initially targeted to help 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs 75,000 crore, he said.
In the Union Budget presented on July 6, he said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made some big announcements for rural India, including zero-budget farming.
According to government figures released in late June, Rs 12,305 crore has been disbursed to PM-KISAN beneficiaries.
“The money has directly gone to the bank accounts of farmers’ families,” he said and maintained that Rs 6,000 was ‘made fun of’ earlier. “But this small amount has given a shield of protection to farmers from the money lenders. This amount will help him to buy seeds,” he said reminding the House that he hails from an agrarian constituency.
“A former Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi of Congress) had said that nearly 85 per cent of the central funds go to power brokers, but he had no solution. I therefore want to compliment Prime Minister Narendra Modi for evolving a mechanism under which the money is credited to bank accounts,” he said.