New Delhi, February 1: Farmers’ groups have slammed the Modi government’s “bonanza” of Rs 6,000 per annum for small and marginal farmers.
They say it is not enough to pay even for a cup of tea for one person in a family of five and that farmers will now reply by way of votes.
Yogendra Yadav of the Swaraj Abhiyan said the money was not enough even to pay for tea. It meant Rs 3.33 per person for a family of five, he said, adding that the government should have given money for at least one cup of tea.
“Budget 2019 has rubbed salt into the wounds of farmers. The ‘historic’ 6,000 rupees a year for a family of five translates to Rs 3.33 a day. This is even lower than MNREGA or old-age pension,” Yadav said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait also termed the incentives in the Budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal as “far too little far too late”.
Tikait said the farmers had hoped that the government would announce support price as per the Swaminathan Committee report and also a loan waiver to ensure that the farmer suicides could be stopped.
“Kisan Samman Yojana is just a way to garner votes. If the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) had to be given it should have been on the lines of the Telangana government, which gives Rs 4,000 per acre for irrigated and Rs 8000 per acre for unirrigated land,” he said, adding that farmers would now reply by way of votes.
Meanwhile, according to agriculture expert Sudhir Panwar, it was an acceptance of grave economic distress among farmers.
“After all, the Modi government accepted the grave economic distress of farmers and promised Rs 500 per month as Central government help. The symbolic gesture is acceptance by the government that all agriculture-related policies/measures, like PMBFY, per drop more crop, remunerative MSP declared in the last budget and PM-AASHA had failed to address the farmers’ woes. It will hardly create any impact on farmers.”
