Farmers at God's mercy under Modi rule: Punjab Congress president

A day after the Modi government announced a hike in the MSP for kharif crops, Congress on Tuesday dismissed it as “piecemeal” and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of leaving the farmers to “God’s mercy”.

“Farmer is also a corona warrior but nobody cheered him for his contribution. Even the Prime Minister has left him at God''s mercy,” Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar told reporters.

Addressing a press conference organised by the AICC through videolink, Jakhar said the Modi government had made “too little” an increase in support price for the summer crops without taking into account the input costs of the farmers.

“Forget profit, this so-called increase in MSP for kharif crops won’t even cover the losses and debts of farmers,” he added

The Centre on Monday had announced support prices for 14 kharif crops for the 2020-21 season with the main produce – paddy – seeing an increase of Rs 53 per quintal over the MSP for last year. The highest increase in MSPs is for niger seed (Rs 755 per quintal) followed by sesamum (Rs 370 per quintal), urad (Rs 300 per quintal) and cotton (long staple) (Rs 275 per quintal).

Jakhar said due to the lockdown, migrant workers have returned to their home states, thus, creating a shortage of hands and doubling the cost of sowing and planting for the kharif season. “The government has neglected this key aspect while ascertaining the cost of production for the kharif crop,” he said.

Jakhar alleged that in many states, the crop procurement was not done as per the MSP and farmers were forced to sell their yield in the open market at a much lesser price.