'Farmer suicides up 26 pc after Modi came to power'

Attacking the Modi government for being ‘anti-agriculture,’ AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday said there had been a 26 per cent rise in the number of farmer suicides in the last one year.

Speaking to reporters here, Singhvi said the NDA government’s cumulative impact of “wrong” policies and “faulty” implementation of the same had driven scores of farmers to the extreme step.

He said the agricultural growth, production, export and crop area have seen a steep downward plunge, ever since the Modi government came to power. While the agriculture growth was 4.7 per cent in 2013-14 during the UPA government, it has come down to 1.1 per cent in 2014-15, as per the government’s economic survey report.

The export of wheat, cotton, and rice, has also decreased by 29 per cent. Despite the nation facing an acute shortage of urea, which has led to riots, the government has imported only one-thirds of the quantum imported by the UPA government in the same period. Though there have been crop damages in about 200 lakh hectares across the country due to unseasonal rains, the government is yet to notify the moisture norms, and it is also yet to disburse compensation for the same, he said.

Despite the crash in prices of many food grains like wheat, cotton, paddy, moong dal and others, the government has not bothered to announce the minimum support price (MSP), excepting for a few, he said. The MSP announced is only up to Rs 100. There are also no rehabilitation packages for non-MSP products like rubber and basmati, he added.

On Jaya case
The Congress spokesperson said the party government in Karnataka would take a deeply-considered and good decision about filing an appeal against the acquittal of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha in the disproportionate assets case.

The government will take a decision based on legal advise. All aspects, including legal and factual, will be looked into before taking the decision. It will be a good decision either way, he told reporters.