Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said that there are problems in the sector and he will discuss the issues with the farmers and their unions.
“There are problems in agriculture but solutions are also there. We will speak to farmers and farmers’ unions,” he said while replying to a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the working of the agriculture ministry and farmers’ welfare.
“We will move towards solutions through dialogues. We will go ahead by taking everyone together. Kaun kehta hai ki aasman mein surakh nahi hota, ek pathhar toh tabiat se uchhalo yaaron…We will leave no stone unturned in the welfare of agriculture and farmers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress said that it will give notice for a privilege motion against the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Rajya Sabha for “misleading the House” on various counts.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress MPs Randeep Singh Surjewala and Digvijaya Singh alleged that Chouhan misled the House “by telling lies”.
Surjewala, a Congress general secretary, said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been claiming to provide farmers with minimum support price (MSP) on input costs plus fifty per cent, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on February 6, 2015, the BJP government had said that it was not possible. He asked what is the actual truth.
Surjewala also challenged the that the claim that farmers were getting prices over and above the MSP on various crops.
Earlier in the day, the Union Minister for Agriculture slammed the opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha for not “prioritising the farmers”.
“We were discussing Kisan Samman Nidhi. Congress talked about direct assistance to farmers but Congress never made a scheme like Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi made this scheme. They (opposition) will not understand but the amount of Rs 6000 matters for small farmers. Due to this Kisan Samman Nidhi, farmers have become self-reliant, farmers have also become empowered and the respect of farmers has also increased. They (opposition) cannot see the respect of farmers,” Chouhan said.
