He was speaking at a seminar on Union budget here. “The UPA government has been boasting that it was pro-farmer by waiving Rs 60,000 crore loans availed by the farmers. But, the government has given a corporate tax rebate of over Rs 50,000 crore and excise tax rebate of over Rs 1 lakh crore to 48 multi national companies in the last budget. Is this the pro-farmer policy of the UPA government,” he questioned.

“If four crore farmers are to be benefited by the Rs 60,000 crore, each farmer would get a benefit of only Rs 15,000. The H D Kumaraswamy government which waived Rs 25,000 crore worth loans in the State was much better than the UPA government, he noted. In a budget of Rs 7,50,874 crore only 10,074 crore has been reserved for agriculture and allied activities. This is only 1.34 per cent of the total budget. Unfortunately, 21 per cent of the budget goes to repaying debts and 11 per cent to defence,” he said.

Along with the loan waiver scheme the government is continuing to appease multi national companies and adopting anti-farmer policies. It is also encouraging company-owned farming methods. This is forcing farmers to commit suicides, he added. Progressive thinker K Dorairaju spoke. State ryots sangha convenor B Umesh presided. CITU president Mohammed Dastagir, leader Govindaraju  present.