Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Coinciding with the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washim in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the Congress on Saturday asked what the BJP was doing to prevent farmers’ suicide.
“On an average day in Maharashtra, seven farmers take their own lives,” said Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh, who is AICC’s General Secretary in-charge Communications.
"This heartbreaking statistic comes from the state’s Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation, who reported that 2,366 farmers died by suicide between January and October last year,” Ramesh noted.
According to him, the reasons are evident - 60 per cent of districts faced drought conditions last year but no help arrived from the government.
“When crops were damaged by unseasonal rains in more than half of the state, farmers were extended loan waivers, but 6.56 lakh farmers were deprived of this relief due to software glitches,” he said.
“In the face of this state-sponsored callousness, the Congress has consistently guaranteed farmers MSP as per the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendation, a farm loan waiver with a Permanent Commission set up to implement it smoothly, and settlement of all crop insurance claims within 30 days,” asserted Ramesh about the Congress party’s vision for the agriculture sector.
“What is the BJP’s vision to support Maharashtra’s and India’s farmers,” the Congress wanted to know.