In a bid to end farmers’ impasse, Puri cites Modi govt’s welfare measures

New Delhi, Dec 26 : Amid the month-long farmers’ protests on the borders of Delhi against the three farms laws enacted in September, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday tried to convey the Centre’s intention in favour of the farmers, saying the Modi government took various measures in this direction during the past six years, including six times rise in the budget of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
As thousands of agitating farmers are protesting against the three farm laws enacted in the Monsoor Session of the Parliament in September, raising many questions on these reforms, including their impact on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system, Puri said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had implemented the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission to fix the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the cost of production.
Puri highlighted how the amount spent on procurement at MSP went up by 85 per cent in 2014-19 compared to 2009-14– a significant difference noted during Modi government compared to UPA regime.
“MSP has risen in the range of 40-70 per cent for all major crops in 2020-21 in comparison to 2013-14,” he said.
The minister said that procurement of paddy at MSP in Punjab this year has been 25 per cent more than last year and 20 per cent more than even the procurement target for this year.
He informed that over Rs 1,10,000 crore has been transferred directly to the accounts of the farmers through the PM Kisan Yojana and Rs 87,000 crore has been paid as crop insurance against a premium of merely Rs 17,450 crore till date.