New Delhi, 05 Aug 2024 | Nirmesh Singh

Ever since the central government has been cornered by the opposition in the ongoing monsoon session of parliament over the long pending demands of farmers, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been attacking the Congress for not taking care of farmers and urging the political parties to treat farmers as humans, not as a vote bank.

He said none of the previous Prime Ministers from Congress’ – Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi ever prioritized farmers and hardly mentioned farmers in their Independence Day Speeches.

In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned farmers multiple times in his speeches from 2014 to 2021, emphasising agriculture and farmers’ welfare, showing that farmers were close to his heart,” he said.

He also said that the Congress has always talked about helping farmers directly but has never done that and it was only PM Narendra Modi who launched the PM-Kisan scheme for farmers.

He was replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on the working of agriculture ministry

Shivraj Singh Chouhan also said that the Centre would work tirelessly for the welfare of farmers and agriculture in the country and the government is moving towards solutions through dialogue and collaboration with all stakeholders.

The Opposition was not satisfied with the reply and walked out. Chairman of Rajya Sabha Mr Jagdeep Dhankhar did not allow opposition MPs Digvijaya Singh and Sanjay Singh who had requested for time to speak as agriculture minister Chouhan mentioned their names in the reply made on Friday and on Monday.

The discussion on the agriculture ministry was raised by Congress MP Surjewala on Friday when Chouhan gave the first leg of his speech.

Agriculture Minister also informed the house that nearly 1,500 climate smart bio fortified crop varieties would be developed and the PM will launch 109 such varieties this year.

He also said, the central government plans to set up 100 horticulture clusters and amend the Pesticides Act for safe use of farm chemicals.

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