Not much for peasantry in Cong, BJP manifestos
Farmers of Punjab might have to wait for the next Lok Sabha elections as all the major parties, especially the Congress and BJP, do not have much in their manifestos to woo the large community, showing that big political parties are not much serious about concerns of farmers.
Farmers of Punjab might have to wait for the next Lok Sabha elections as all the major parties, especially the Congress and BJP, do not have much in their manifestos to woo the large community, showing that big political parties are not much serious about concerns of farmers.
After the Rs 72,000-crore loan waiver announced by the UPA government, the farming community of Punjab, the country’s grain-bowl, was eagerly waiting for the implementation of the Swaminathan commission report, which suggested minimum support price (MSP) for all crops 50% above the production cost. Though the BJP manifesto has announced to take steps in this direction, it has ignored other key issues.
But both the BJP and Congress have disappointed the farming community as they did not make any mention about the Swaminathan commission in their manifestos. Moreover, the big parties, also missed other key issues, relating to the farming community, which faces problem in selling their produce due the lack of proper marketing system, especially in Punjab where farmers have to spent days in ‘mandis’ to sell their produce.
Jagmohan Singh Patiala, state secretary to BKU (Dakaunda), condemned both the Congress and BJP for ignoring farmers, saying,
“It is ironical that both the big parties have ignored farming community, which covers 60% of the country’s population.”“Now, farmers of a state like Punjab, which played a key role in Green Revolution, are being forced to commit suicide as such cases have increased manifold in the last few years,” he added, demanding a fresh survey of suicide-hit farm families of the state.