Rahul should avoid rising from ashes on Farmers' bodies - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir

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Rahul should avoid rising from ashes on Farmers' bodies

5/2/2015 12:20:56 AM

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday began a 15-km day-long padyatra in Amravati district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, during which he interacted with the families of farmers who had committed suicide in recent days.Nothing wrong about the way Rahul Gandhi plans to meet farmers,understand their problems and prevail upon the Government to initiate measures for mitigating farmers' sufferings.But in the ongoing Padyatra Rahul has a plan to expose the BJP led NDA Government's,what he calls,anti-farmer policies.But Rahul Gandhi,who had visited a number of places in Punjab to meet farmers in distress before launching the Padyatra from Maharashtra,had to face an embarrassment while he tried to plead the case of Punjab farmers on the floor of the Lok Sabha the other day.The Congress Vice president had blamed the Government of India for not purchasing wheat from the farmers which was one of the factors that had forced some farmers to commit suicide. And when the Government told the Lok sabha that out of 64 lakh tones of wheat that had arrived in various mandis of Punjab the Government had purchased over 57 lakh tones it left Rahul a bit red faced.
And the Government of India has framed a new policy under which states where wheat crop was affected by unseasonal rain the centre was to reimburse the amount of value cut on wheat the states were spending on purchasing wheat.And the Government of India has made it clear beyond any doubt that the policy was framed days before Rahul Gandhi visited Punjab mandis and started his padyatra.This indicates that the BJP led NDA Government has been trying to focus on farmers interests.With the prevailing farmers' distress acquiring major political dimensions across the country, the Centre has stepped in to announce - for affected states including Punjab and Haryana - the reimbursement of the amount of value cut on wheat they are spending to purchase wheat affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorms.According to an official statement, the Centre will reimburse the amount of value cut imposed on the wheat being procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under relaxed quality norms.In short, the Centre has decided to provide financial support to states so that they could freely help farmers by procuring their wheat under relaxed specifications. The move is aimed at ensuring that wheat farmers get the full minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,450 per quintal.
If India is faced with agrarian crisis because of damage to the rabi crops owing to unseasonal rain and hailstorms it is not the fault of the BJP led NDA Government.It is a natural calamity for which neither Rahul Gandhi nor Narendra Modi has any control. Now that the Congress agitation against the Land Acquisition Bill did not get any massive peoples' support in the country the Congress vice president,Rahul Gandhi,has decided to use the wheat procurement and farmers' suicides as the main issues for registering his comeback and presence in the country's political firmament.Well Rahul Gandhi had not a word to counter one Minister who posed one question on the floor of the Lok Sabha "Where was Rahul Gandhi when the farmers' wheat crop was being damaged by unseasonal rain and hailstorm ?" In fact the minister was referring to Rahul's long vacation in Bangkok. Rahul Gandhi is supposed to remember that when the Congress headed the UPA Government for 10 years farmers committed suicides but the BJP would not hold the Congress responsible for these suicides.The Congress should appreciate if the Food Corporation of India and other state agencies have instructions from the Government of India to adopt a lenient approach while procuring wheat from farmers.Rahul Gandhi needs to appreciate BJP Government for having decided to reimburse any losses on account of procuring partly damaged wheat from farmers.How many scams surfaced during the Congress rule ? Scores of them.And If Rahul tries to rise from the ashes on the bodies of farmers he is wrong.

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