Agri crisis further deepened in Modi’s 1-year rule: AIKS

The All-India Kisan Sabha has alleged that the one-year rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has further aggravated the woes of the farmers.

“Growth rate of agriculture has drastically fallen from 3.7 per cent in 2014 to 1.1 per cent in the last one year under the Narendra Modi-led Government. The number of suicides by farmers has increased by 26 per cent,” AIKS Joint Secretary Vijoo Krishnan has said.

The BJP-ruled Maharashtra alone witnessed an increase of 40 per cent in farmers’ suicides. The figure rose to a steep 1,373 between August 2014 and February 2015. There has been a further spurt in farmers’ suicides after March 2015 due to the colossal damage to crops in more than two crore Analysing the one-year rule of the Government, Vijoo Krishnan said the agrarian crisis has further deepened in States like Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The association alleged that the BJP manifest had promised to increase public investment in agriculture and ensure an income of 50 per cent over and above the cost of production. They also promised to bring in a ‘National Land Use Policy’ to acquire non-cultivable land and its development.

“But instead of mitigating their sufferings, the Government only aggravated the situation. They told Supreme Court that it is not possible to give to the farmers an MSP of cost of production plus 50 per cent as recommended by the Swaminathan committee,” he said.

“To add salt to injury the Government issued an Order directing States not to pay bonus for paddy and wheat over and above the MSP, the AIKS leader.

He also flayed the government for reducing public investment in agriculture and rural development, exposing the farmers to money lenders.

The allocation for agriculture and allied activities was at Rs 11,657 crore in the budget for 2015-16, a marginal increase from the 2014-15 budget.

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