Hyderabad, September 15: The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that a special session of Parliament and Legislative Assembly be convened to exclusively discuss the problems of farmers in the country.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that thousands of farmers in the Konaseema region have declared ‘Crop Holiday’ after having failed to get remunerative prices for their produce. Presently, the ‘Crop Holiday’ is confined to the production of paddy. He said the State and country would face severe food scarcity if farmers in other regions too declare ‘Crop Holiday’ and the same is extended to other products besides paddy.
The BJP leader said that due to the incorrect approach and indifferent attitude of both State and Central governments, over 40 per cent of the farmers in the country are finding farming, a profitable business. For instance, to grow paddy on an acre of land, the farmers are spending about Rs 25,000. However, they are earning roughly Rs 18,000 for the entire produce. Instead of suffering losses, the farmers have started declaring ‘Crop Holiday’, he said.
Referring to the recommendations made by Mohan Kanda Committee in its recent report, Venkaiah Naidu said that the most of the measures that the committee suggested were earlier proposed by Swaminathan Committee. Instead of finding an immediate solution, the State Government was trying to buy time by constituting different committees. He said that the government was not focussed on welfare of farmers and instead it was trying to help only big corporates. Citing an instance, he said the ban on rice export was not lifted when the farmers were having surplus produce. However, now the ban has been lifted which would directly benefit a few businessmen.
Venkaiah Naidu said that the BJP plans to discuss the shortage of fertilisers, seeds and storage space for farmers in the special session of Parliament. Further, he said that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has created the shortage of agricultural labourers. Therefore, the government must work out a plan to ensure that farming becomes more lucrative than other employment schemes. He appealed to all MPs and MLAs across party lines to pressurise the Centre and State for a special Parliament and Assembly session on farmers’ issue.
——–Agencies