Cong govt deprived 50 lakh farmers of ₹1,000 crore: BJP
JAIPUR: Union minister of state for agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat on Thursday accused the Congress government of depriving 50 lakh Rajasthan farmers of ₹1,000 crore by stalling the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
Shekhawat said 12 crore small and marginal farmers in the country are getting benefit of the scheme. “It is unfortunate that the Congress government came to power in Rajasthan with the promise of welfare to farmers but has hurt the interests of the farmers in the state,” Shekhawat told mediapersons at the BJP headquarters here.
He said in Rajasthan, 50 lakh farmers are to be benefitted and will receive ₹1,000 crore but the apathy of the Congress government has deprived them of their rightful dues.
He said under the scheme, states are supposed to send details of small and marginal beneficiary farmers to the Centre as agriculture is a state subject. Shekhawat said big states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have provided data to the Centre. He said countrywide the first instalment of ₹2,000 has been deposited in the bank accounts of 2.75 crore farmers.
The Rajasthan government has not provided full data of beneficiary farmers to the Centre. They have given data of one lakh farmers and that too could not be verified fully. The Congress government did not want to let farmers take benefit of the central government scheme, he said.
He said the central government after coming to power in 2104 has brought in several schemes to revive agriculture.
“Before the Modi government, the way of looking at agriculture was production-centric. We took a profit-centric approach and we have launched several schemes to make agriculture profitable and double farmers’ income,” he said.
Later, hitting back at the Congress, its spokesperson Archana Sharma blamed the BJP of playing politics over the issue of farmers. “The state government has created a portal for uploading the data and we have uploaded data of lakhs of farmers. The details of the farmers are being reconciled with the revenue records. The process is on. BJP, which is responsible for suicides of farmers, is doing politics on this issue.”