BJP tax move will sound our death-knell, say farmers

Ridiculing the BJP for initiating the move, Jagjit Singh Hara, one of the leading and progressive farmers, remarked, "It is like a nurse suggesting to a doctor to take the blood directly from the brain (forehead) instead of the veins of the donor. And if the doctor agrees resulting in the death of the donor what would you call him–a doctor or a killer?"

Hara who is a member of the special task force set up by FICCI to iscuss agricultural policies, disclosed that the task force had, in a report to the Central Government, strongly opposed any proposal to bring the farmers under the tax net. Avtar Singh Mohi, another big farmer, and Satbir Singh Nijjar, a farmer of international fame, argued that by no means the Government will be able to assess the income of farmers. "The income of the farming community is always exposed to the vagaries of weather. A bad monsoon or a prolonged dry spell means a significant loss of income. Majority of the farmers being illiterate, do not keep record of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, perticides etc which go into the cultivation cost. "So under which parametres will the Government be assessing their income to bring them under the net," they asked.

Quoting the recent example of the glut wiping out the profitability of the potato crop in the state, Avtar Singh Mohi, said, "For the past three consecutive years no one is willing to lift the produce from the farms even at a rate of Rs 1 per kg. We are disposing of our produce at the rate of Rs 80 per quintal. Would you want to tax these growers?"

Meanwhile in Bathinda, Sukhdev Singh Dhillon, former Akali minister and a leading farmer, blamed the move on the anti-farmer lobby. A farmer owning not more than 17 acres of land could earn hardly enough to make both ends meet due to high input costs. How could farmers, deep in debt and resorting to extreme steps like suicides, pay tax", he asked. Surjit Singh Brar of Khui Kheda said the farming community could not be brought under the tax net until the prices of their produce were linked to the price index. It would be an act of injustice on the part of the Government to tax this section of society which was already facing challenges like natural calamities, glut in the market and attack of insects etc.

What Ncaer Report Says

Farm experts at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) feel that the BJP proposal seems to have originated from the latest report of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The report says: