Page 11 - Putting Farmers First

If the MSP declared for Tur dal is 55% higher, the procurement of
pulses too has gone up almost exponentially. During 2009-14, the UPA
government procured only 1.52 LMT of pulses, whereas during 2014-
19, the Modi government procured 112.28 LMT of pulses at MSP, a
74-fold rise!
Take another example. In the 15 years preceding 2014, Sharad Pawar’s
party was in power in Maharashtra, while for 10 years during this
period he was also the Union Agriculture Minister. During this time,
the government spent just Rs 450 crore in purchasing food grain from
farmers of Maharashtra. In contrast, during 2014-19, a period of just 5
years, the NDA government purchased food grain worth Rs 8,500 crore.
MSP hike was announced as recently as September 2020, immediately
after the pro-farmer reform bills were passed, clearly showing the
intentions of the government to strengthen the MSP system even more.
Irrigation and insurance have both seen huge improvement. Direct
income support was ensured for farmers through the historic PM-
KISAN scheme, through which money now directly reaches the bank
accounts of the farmers.
Cold chains, mega food parks and such agro-processing infrastructure
have been set up on a big scale. Allied activities have witnessed never-
before-seen focus as an avenue of income generation for farmers.
Aatmanirbhar Farmer for Aatmanirbhar
Bharat

The latest wave of pro-farmer reforms, advocated by many experts for
decades, fulfilled the demands of many farmers and farmer unions.
These reforms give farmers the freedom to sell anywhere and to anyone.
Farmers can sell in APMC Mandis as well as outside them.
Further, these reforms also strengthen farmers with a protective legal
framework when dealing with buyers, ensuring that they get an assured
income for their produce.
These reforms have seen decades of consultations with stakeholders,
multiple committees and clear cross-party consensus about the way
forward.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s track record and his government’s
actions give confidence that the life of the Indian farmer is transforming
for the better, with an elaborate safety net being created for farmers
while also increasing their avenues of income generation.
As the nation responds to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call of
‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Aatmanirbhar farmers will lead the way.