"It was felt that the BJP’s defeat in the recent state elections might force it to take some concrete steps in the budget on these issues. Sadly, it hasn’t happened and has disappointed farmers again," said Ajit Nawale, Maharashtra general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).
New Delhi: Criticising the central government’s cash dole of Rs 6,000 per year to small farmers, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), an umbrella organisation of farmers, said it’s an effort to avoid the main issue of farmers’ demand for remunerative prices for their produce and a complete loan waiver.
Ashok Dhawale, national president of AIKS, said, “At Rs 500 a month or Rs 15 a day, this is an utter betrayal of the farmers of India. Rs 15 per day will provide a cup of tea. Much worse, this is an effort to skirt the main issue of the farmers’ agitations over the last couple of years — a complete loan waiver and remunerative price for farm produce at 1.5 times the cost of production. These were both promises made by this government in 2014, which remain unfulfilled for nearly five years. And now this is a jumla ahead of elections. But the farm community will not fall prey to this, on the contrary, they will be extremely angry at this insult and betrayal. The struggle continues.”
Yogendra Yadav, president of the Swaraj India party, which has been spearheading the farmers’ protest in the national capital for the past two years, stated that the Budget does not provide any solution to some of the most pressing issues of the agrarian crisis and the much larger rural distress in the country.
Yadav said that the fund allocation in the Union Budget is a desperate measure to buy farmers’ votes before the elections.
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