Farmers Movement Archive

BJP MP Varun Gandhi raises farmers’ issues like sugarcane prices, subsidies

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Varun Gandhi has written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath seeking more remuneration for sugarcane crop; subsidy in diesel and electricity prices and doubling of money given to farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.Gandhi has said that farmers in his constituency have raised the demand for re-visiting the prices of sugarcane crop, pointing out that the prices have gone up by just ₹10 per quintal in the last four years. He has sought an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for sugarcane to at least ₹400 per quintal for the year 2021–22 keeping in view the increased input costs.While the UP government has claimed to have cleared almost 84% of dues to about 4.5 million sugar cane farmers of the state, Gandhi has pointed out that some dues still remain unpaid. The Yogi Adityanath government claims to have paid ₹1.42 lakh crore to sugarcane farmers in the past four years.Referring to the farming community’s alleged economic distress, the BJP MP pitched for a ₹200 per quintal bonus for farmers who grow wheat and rice apart from giving them seeds at cheaper rates and at least ₹20 per litre subsidy in diesel prices.Gandhi has also pitched for doubling the ₹6,000 per annum, paid to farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and accepting their demand to be included among workers, considered eligible to participate in the national minimum rural employment guarantee scheme.This is not the first time that Gandhi has raised issues related to the farmers. Last week, commenting on the ongoing farmers’ stir and the rally seeking a roll back of the farm laws, Gandhi said there was a need for “re-engagement” with the protesting farmers. Referring to the farmers as “our own flesh and blood”, Gandhi insisted that their “hardships” should be taken into consideration.“The last few years have been an economically tumultuous time more-so for our farmers who have borne the brunt on many angles,” said Varun Gandhi. “As a public representative who has written on rural economics and worked with farmers for years, I felt the requests I made to the UP CM are fiscally affordable and can be immediately actualised and would go a long way in normalising Govt-farmer relations”.

Hindustan Times

12-09-2021

India