Sonia attacks Govt on farmers issue

The leader of the Opposition said when quot;farmer is being crushed in a chakki grinder due to rising cost of production,quot; the Government has no policy nor any plan of action to deal with the issue with foresight.

She said though every single region in the country including Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, which are known as the quot;heartland of green revolutionquot;, has been affected by the crisis, but the Government has 8220;grossly let down8221; the farmer.

Stating that though states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra were facing a drought situation, she regretted it has 8220;bypassed8221; the attention of the Government.

Even though Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh were devastated by floods, she said there was 8220;not even sympathy nor assistance from New Delhi8221;.

Demanding immediate and concrete steps to give a fair deal to the farmer, Sonia said the Government needed to be taken to task as it has forgotten its primary duty towards the tiller.

Sonia charged the Government with adopting a 8220;callous8221;attitude to the pleas for assistance from states which witnessed drought and floods.

She alleged discrimination at the hands of the Centre to Orissa last year in the wake of the super cyclone as also Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal which were affected by floods this year.

The BJP-led coalition, she said, was not paying attention to the havoc caused by pests and diseases on some cash crops in southern states as also 8220;very grim8221; situation in Uttar Pradesh where sugar mills were closing down one by one.

While public investment in agriculture has dried up, she said that horticulture and dairy industry were being threatened by 8220;mindless imports8221;.

Anadi Sahu BJP sought to counter Sonia8217;s criticism by saying that the Government has done everything possible to ensure that farmer was not in a difficulty. This, he said, included a massive subsidy on agriculture and power supply to farmers.

He said the Vajpayee Government had brought in three revolutions 8212; gene, information and communication revolution and eco-tech 8212; in the last two years which has helped the farmer in getting high yielding seeds and best of technology.

Ummma Reddy Venkeswarlu TDP regretted that realistic view is not taken while fixing the prices of the agricultural produce as a result the farmers were committing suicide in several parts of the country.

He said the cost of production was increasing between seven and 20 per cent every year while increase in the minimum support prices was negligible.

He also spoke of lack of coordination between various Central ministries connected with agricultural activities and said that technologies developed by scientists are not reaching the farmers because of poor extension services.

TDP member was also critical of banks which he felt were not extending necessary credit facilities to the farmers and demanded stern step to check supply of spurious or substandard seeds to the farmers.

Ramji Lal Suman Samajwadi Party flayed the Government for neglecting the interests of the farming community while Anant Gangaram Geete Shiv Sena pleaded that while fixing the minimum support prices, the government should not overlook the havoc caused by natural calamities to the crops.

Madhavrao Scindia Cong berated the Government for reducing fertiliser subsidies when production costs had gone up substantially, particularly in the wake of the hike in petrol and diesel prices.

Indiscriminate imports of onions, potatoes and sugar had badly hit the farmers, he said.

For the second time in its history, the country was being pushed towards slavery with the Government opening the floodgates of foreign goods at the cost of the domestic industry.

He said lifting of quantitative restrictions had also led to dumping of their products by multinational companies.

Accusing the Congress of having double standards, T C Gehlot, BJP, said while they claiming to champion the cause of the farmers in Parliament, in Madhya Pradesh, now being ruled by them, farmers were sore over the steep levy of sales tax on petrol and diesel.

Supporting the motion, BSP leader Mayawati attacked the Government for not ensuring remunerative prices to farmers and failing to come out with other measures to ameliorate their condition.