Farmers in Madhya Pradesh were on protest from June 1 demanding better prices for their produce and debt relief.
He also hit out at the Madhya Pradesh government for not taking action those who fired at the farmers in Mandsaur. Rather than treating their movement as a law-and-order problem as is the BJP's wont, it should invite the farmers for talks and arrive at a settlement that would make farming profitable for them.
Following protests by cultivators in Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government on Sunday announced a loan- waiver for farmers and chose to form a committee to work out the debt-relief criteria. Rather the farmers were fired upon directly, he further alleged.
The number of farmer suicides are also alarming.
Against a backdrop of torched vehicles and pelting of stones, a spokesperson for the farmers union, Sunil Gaur, told Indian media that the protests in Madhya Pradesh will go on in defiance of a round-the-clock curfew. The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) chaired by noted agriculturalist and Professor M S Swaminathan in their five volume reports had recommended pricing and procurement based on total cost of production plus 50 pc principle. Tentatively, we feel that you are going in the wrong direction. "Farmers' suicides have been happening for so many decades and it is surprising that no action has been taken to address the causes behind suicides". Successive governments have extended crop loan waivers but fall short of providing real solutions to farmers' woes. The population of farmers declined by 15 million (2,000 farmers lost per day) and majority have been demoted to agricultural workers. He had a credit of about Rs 5 lakh. It has been used by political parties from time to time just for electoral gain and has not served any good in ameliorating the condition of farmers. Farmers around the country have been pressing for more government assistance, often through protests. "Which is why they are concerned by what is happening in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra", said Delhi-based political analyst Amulya Ganguli.
Game on: Tragedy won't stop congressional baseball game
The answer is preparing for the Congressional Baseball Game, of course. "I don't think you're human if that doesn't shake you". Democrats and Republicans split into teams for the game and often wear baseball uniforms of teams in their state or district.
This came after the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced a loan waiver of Rs 36,359 crore, and Devendra Fadnavis' government in Maharashtra followed suit with a similar offer of Rs 30,000 crore.
1 min readGoing on strike has emerged as the new trend among various associations, especially after the Maharashtra government bowed down to pressure of farmers for loan waiver.
Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel had also expressed his displeasure at the spate of loan waiver announcements in different states.
Chhattisgarh has offered interest-free loans to farmers. Frequent farm waivers create expectations of future waivers and can be serious disincentive to delay or stop loan repayments.
Meanwhile, the state government has issued a notification for the judicial probe of the Mandsaur violence. He insinuated that it was the Congress which had brought "outsiders" and "anti-social elements' who had created trouble and hinted that these elements were responsible for the firing". The bumper crop has led to wholesale prices dipping below government announced minimum support prices for varieties of pulses severely affecting farm incomes. Gone are the days of Charan Singh, Mahendra Singh Tikait, Balram Jakhar, Sharad Joshi and other tall leaders who could speak for the community and influence policies. Considering Swaminathan's suggestion to move from "Green Revolution" to "Evergreen Revolution" is one option. Into the end of his third term, Chauhan has been busy with Narmada Seva Yatra and seems to have neglected the concerns of farmers' which has been simmering over a year now. The schemes devised should reach the intended beneficiaries.
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