A day after the 5.3% to 10.35% hike in minimum support prices (MSP) of all mandated kharif crops for 2023-24, the Opposition hit out at the Central government with the Congress accusing it of “betraying” farmers by only announcing MSP but never procuring the produce at those rates. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government has not fulfilled its promise of providing MSP at cost plus 50 per cent profit and doubling the income of farmers of the country by 2022. He accused the government of cutting the agriculture budget and removing two crore farmers’ names from the list of Kisan Samman Nidhi beneficiaries. Only Rs 12,000 crore of the announced one lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was given in the last three years, he said. “Nine years of the (Narendra) Modi government has become a curse for 62 crore farmers of the country,” the Congress chief said. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala at a press conference alleged that the government has turned MSP into “maximum suffering of the producer” and that the BJP has an “anti-farmer DNA”. He said the new MSP was far less than ideal and alleged that the government makes very limited purchases even on this meagre price. He claimed that the agriculture budget in 2020-21 was 4.41 per cent of the total budget and was reduced to 2.57 per cent in 2023-24.
