Scindia hits out at government over farmers’ issues

New Delhi, July 19 (IANS) Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for the increasing farmers suicides in the country and criticised Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh for being "insensitive" to killing of six farmers by police in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur.

Participating in a discussion on agrarian crisis in Lok Sabha, Scindia said: "Farmers are forced to throw tomatoes, onions, potatoes on road as they cannot get (a good) price. Crop insurance scheme has failed. Private companies are benefitted. After GST, prices of DAP (Diammonium phosphate fertliser), tractor, farming equipment have increased."

"While Chief Economic Adviser arvind Subramanian said that farmers must get Rs 7,000 per quintal of Tur (pigeon pea), they are getting just Rs 5,050. There is huge discrepancies in reports and implementation," he said.

Referring to the Mandsaur incident, he called Centre and Madhya Pradesh government "insensitive" towards farmers.

"While Prime Minister tweets when anything happens, he did not make a single tweet on Mandsaur. Agriculture Minister did not bother to go to Mandsaur. Instead, he chose to do Yoga with Baba Ramdev," he said.

He said 65 farmers in Madhya Pradesh had committed suicide including 11 in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Sihor district after the Mandsaur incident.

He demanded criminal cases should be filed against those responsible for Mandsaur firing.

Party's chief whip in Lok Sabha, Scindia, said the farmers could not see "a ray of hope" due to anti-farmers policies of the government.

"When the government is supposed protect farmers, it is firing bullets at farmers. It has put over 700 farmers behind the bar. How can we there is democracy in the country? " he said.

When Scindia said agriculture growth rate had gone down in BJP government's tenure and farmers were not getting Minimum Support Price as promised before election, Radha Mohan Singh interrupted, saying: "We had promised 50 percent above the input cost. Even we are trying to double farmers' income."

Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that Congress tried to mislead farmers in case of Mandsaur issue.

"If we look at farmers' issues through political lens, there will be chaos," he added.

BJP member Virendra Singh 'Mast' said that loan waivers was not a permanent solution to problems faced by peasants and asked for a special session of Parliament to discuss various issues concerning Indian farmers.

He got support from Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who said the suggestion was "good".