Farmers suffered the most under UPA regime says BJP
Rajnath Singh, the BJP National President issued a statement saying that “Ever since the UPA government has come to power at the centre, the common man has been forced to deal with miseries on almost all fronts. However, if we have to single out one section of the society that suffered the most during the UPA regime it is the farmers of the country.”
The BJP is of the candid opinion that the country’s economic development can succeed only if agriculture is made profitable, if the purchasing power of the farmer and the agriculture workers is substantially increased, if better employment opportunities are created in rural India and by improving the overall living conditions of entire rural India.
He said that “during the NDA regime I myself in capacity of Union Agriculture Minister had constituted the National Commission on Farmers. Last year the National Commission on Farmers submitted its report to the government expressing grave concern over the prevailing condition of Agriculture in India.
The committee under Shri M S Swaminathan included our demand to reduce interest rate on agricultural loans to 4 percent. But the UPA Government has failed implement the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission till date.”
H said that that the prices of virtually every agriculture input has risen substantially where as the Minimum Support Prices of most of the agricultural produces have remained either stagnant or even depressed in real terms on account of rising inflation. He promised the people of Karnataka that when BJP will come to power at the Centre, it will increase the MSP of paddy to Rs 1100.
Rajnath reminded that in Karnataka BJP fulfilled the promise of giving loans to farmers at the rate of 4 percent from Co-operative banks. This historic decision was taken by Shri B S Yediyurappa who is now the Chief Ministerial candidate of BJP in Karnataka.
He also assured the people of Karnataka that the BJP would extend the provision of loans to farmers at 4 percent and implement Farm Income Insurance Scheme. BJP also demanded that the Government to increase the quantum of public investment in agriculture and mandate banks to earmark 30% of their total loans for credit to the agriculture sector . UPA Government should implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers and assure the farmer of actual cost of production plus 50% over and above this cost as the MSP for his produce.
He said that the UPA Government has not only betrayed the aspirations of farmers in the country but it also exposed its anti-Dalit and anti-poor face during the last four years. In the Union Budget of 2008-09 the UPA Government did not allocate adequate funds for the welfare of Scheduled Castes. Under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) it is mandatory for the Government to earmark budget according to the proportion of the SC population, which stands 16.2 percent of the total population of the country.
The total budget allocation Under Plan outlay for 2008-09 is Rs 2, 43, 385.5 crore and under the SCSP plan the UPA Government was bound to allocate Rs 40090.90 crore exclusively for Dalits. But it allocated only Rs 11715.9 crore for the welfare of Scheduled Castes which fall Rs 28, 375.9 crore short of the mandatory SCSP outlay.
Out of 75 Departments/Ministries only 7 ministries have allocated substantial funds for SC welfare whereas the remaining 68 ministries have much less allocations and in some cases even zero allocations.
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