Farmers Movement Archive

Hike sugarcane prices, PM Kisan scheme amount: BJP MP Varun Gandhi to UP CM

Bareilly: BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, who had earlier backed farmers protesting against the three new farm laws, saying that they are “our own flesh and blood”, has now written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath outlining several measures that could “help farmers improve their revenues and resolve their issues”, including increasing sugarcane prices, doubling the amount of PM Kisan scheme and bonus on wheat and paddy. Talking to TOI, a day after he shot off the letter on Saturday, the three-term MP, said, “The last few years have been an economically tumultuous time, more so for our farmers who have borne the brunt for many things. "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 government-farmer relations,” he added. In his letter, Gandhi has suggested increasing the sugarcane state advisory price (SAP) to Rs 400 per quintal — currently fixed at Rs 315 per quintal. He also suggested that contractual farmers be allowed to sell their crop directly to sugar mills. At present, contractual farmers are unable to sell sugarcane to sugar mills because only those with a “cane supply ticket” from the district administration can sell their crop directly to sugar mills. The cane supply ticket is only given to growers who have land in their name, forcing contractual labourers to sell to jaggery manufacturers at nominal prices. Sugarcane is widely grown in west UP, the epicentre of the farmers’ protest against the farm laws. The MP has also suggested Rs 200 per quintal bonus above the minimum support price (MSP) on grains like paddy and wheat to cover transportation costs associated with the delivery of the grains at the procurement centres. Gandhi said the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) scheme should be doubled to Rs 12,000 annually for farmers with the state government contributing Rs 6,000 from its own funds. The PM Kisan scheme is an initiative by the Centre under which all farmers can get up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support. Sharing farmers’ concern over high prices of electricity and diesel, Gandhi requested Adityanath to allow a subsidy of Rs 20 per litre on diesel to farmers and reduce the power prices with immediate effect. Electricity connections of thousands of farmers have been disconnected by the power supply department over pending dues in west UP. Gandhi's letter also suggested that labourers be deployed for farming under MGNREGA and 'gaushalas' be developed to stop stray cattle from destroying crops in rural areas. Gandhi has been conducting meetings with protesting farmers and tweeting in their support. On September 5, he had shared a video of the large turnout at the farmers’ mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar and said that “we need to start re-engaging with them in a respectful manner”.

The Times of India

2021-09-13

Bareilly