Modi govt failed farmers: Rahul
TARGET ’19 Cong chief says Modi govt did not waive farmers’ loans
BARGARH: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that the country was witnessing farmer suicides everyday as the Modi government had failed to fulfil its promise of mitigating their plight.
“Suicide of farmers is reported in the country daily as the Modi government did not keep its promises. It made tall claims about farmers’ welfare. But it neither waived their loans, nor hiked the minimum support price of paddy,” Gandhi said at a public meeting in Bargarh town of west Odisha.
Describing Bargarh as the “rice bowl” of Odisha, the Congress chief said farmers were committing suicide in this district as both the Bjp-led government at the Centre and the BJD regime in the state had failed to address the problems of the peasants.
Speaking in Raipur, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party is considering inclusion of a Right to Healthcare Act promise in its manifesto for the ensuing Lok Sabha election to guarantee minimum healthcare to all.
Gandhi also criticised the Ayushman Bharat flagship health scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and termed the programme as a handout to 15-20 select businessmen of the country.
He was interacting with medical professionals during the concluding session of the two day national convention on Health for all organised by an NGO here.
“In our manifesto, we are considering three things: Including Right to Healthcare Act by which we can guarantee a certain minimum healthcare to all Indians; increasing our healthcare expenditure to 3% of the GDP and increasing the number of doctors and healthcare professionals,” Gandhi said while answering a question from the professionals.
Gandhi also asserted that if his party is elected to power in the 2019 general elections, its focus will be on increasing expenditure on healthcare and education.
“India is transitioning from a rural system to urban system. There is a massive shifting taking place and it is a painful shift. It is not an easy shift, it is a traumatic shift,” he said. Gandhi said there are three things that any government in the 21st century has to do to protect Indias citizens. “First we have to fix unemployment problem and second is we have to give low cost high-quality education. The third thing is that we have to ensure better healthcare system,” he said.