• Randeep Singh Surjewala, MP

These nine years of the Modi government will always be remembered as an era of being anti-farmers, hypocrisy and brutality. While boasting late last evening, the Modi cabinet announced the MSP for Kharif crops, but the bitter truth is that: • Farmer’s crop is not bought at MSP at all! • There is no sign of MSP equal to “Cost + 50 percent profit” to the farmer. • Every policy and step of the Modi government means the DNA itself is anti-farmer. 1. Modi mantra- declare MSP, but don’t buy crops on MSP Under the BJP government, the MSMP has now become “the maximum pain for the producer (farmer)” as the MSP has now become meaningless. The truth is that the BJP government does not buy the farmer’s crop at MSP. The facts of ‘crop production’ and ‘crop procurement’ in the year 2022-23 expose this hypocritical anti-farmer policy of the Modi government. 2022-23: Crop procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) Serial No. Crop Production (in lakh tonnes) Crop procurement on MSP (in lakh tonnes) Percentage of crop procurement on MSP against total production 1. Paddy 1302.9 651.70 50.02 2. Wheat 1068.4 187.92 17.59 3. Oilseeds (Soybean, Sunflower, Mustard, Groundnut, Sesame etc. 376.96 0.48 0.13

4. Pulses	276.9	1.2	0.43

5. Jowar, Bajra, Ragi and Maize 491.7 1.28 0.26

The truth is here - except paddy crop, the Modi government did not buy any other crop at MSP. If the MSP of the farmer’s crop is to be declared only on paper, then I wonder what meaning does the MSP hold? Will the Prime Minister respond? 2. The MSP of the farmer is not fixed at “Cost + 50 percent profit”. Modi ji and the BJP came to power by making two big promises to the farmers. The first promise was to set the farmer’s MSP at “Cost + 50 per cent profit”. The second promise was that by the year 2022, the income of 62 crore farmers of the country would be doubled by this MSP determination formula. Both things have been proved to be a white lie. While fixing the MSP for Kharif crops, the Modi government neither accepted the recommendations of the BJP-ruled provinces nor fixed the MSP on the basis of +50 per cent profit on cost. Based on the latest report of the CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) i.e. the Agricultural Pricing Commission of the country, the following facts expose the lies of the Modi government:

Crop MSP (Rs/quintal) Crop production cost i.e. C2 (Rs/quintal) Cost +50 per cent i.e. C2 +50 per cent (Rs/quintal) MSP demanded by provinces (Rs/quintal) Paddy 2,183 1,911 2,867 Gujarat - 2,750 Assam - 3,132 Maharashtra - 4,534 Jowar 3,180 2,833 4,250 Gujarat - 5,400 Maharashtra - 4,434 UP - 3,065 Bajra 2,500 1,811 2,717 Gujarat - 3,200 Maharashtra - 4,434 Telangana - 8,194 Maize 2,090 1,797 2,696 Gujarat - 4,500 Bihar - 3,122 Maharashtra - 2,692 Shragi 3,846 3,328 4,992 Karnataka - 8,468 Uttarakhand-3,944 Tur (Arhar) 7,000 5,993 8,990 Gujarat - 8,000 Karnataka - 14,382 Maharashtra - 7,274 Moong 8,558 7,218 10,827 Gujarat - 9,300 Maharashtra - 10,972 Karnataka - 13,722 Urad 6,950 6,239 9,359 Gujarat - 8,800 Karnataka - 15,755 Maharashtra - 10,492 Groundnut 6,377 5,350 8,025 Gujarat - 7,500 Karnataka - 11,278 Maharashtra - 15,483 Soybean 4,600 4,019 6,029 Karnataka - 10,184 Maharashtra - 6,776 Sunflower 6,760 5,960 8,940 Karnataka - 15,045 Maharashtra - 7,746 Andhra Pradesh - 9,123 Sesame 8,635 7,864 11,796 Gujarat - 10,530 Rajasthan - 13,700 Andhra Pradesh - 10,296 Nigerseed 7,734 6,793 10,190 Jharkhand - 8,501 Cotton 6,620 5,786 8,679 Gujarat - 8,900 Maharashtra - 8,968 Karnataka - 14,232

The truth is clear - even on a Kharif crop, the determination of MSP is not equal to the cost of + 50 per cent profit. This is sheer cheating with the farmer. 3. BJP’s DNA itself is anti-farmer. The power of the Modi government is merciless, cruel and anti-farmer by nature itself. BJP’s democracy has become a ‘killer system’ for the farmers of the country. (a) The budget for agriculture was cut, whatever was given was not spent on agriculture In the year 2020-21, the budget of the Agriculture Department in the country was 4.41 percent of the total central budget. In the budget of 2023-24, the budget of agriculture has been reduced to only 2.57 percent of the total country’s budget. In the last four years, the Modi government did not spend about Rs. 80,000 crores from the budget of the Agriculture Department. Instead, it was returned. If you look at the figures of the surrendered budget amount of the Agriculture Department every year, it is as follows: 2019-20 Rs. 34,518 crores 2020-2 Rs. 23,825 crores 2021-22 Rs. 429 crores 2022-23 Rs. 19,762 crores (b) The names of 2 crore farmers were removed from the ‘Kisan Samman Nidhi’. On one hand, the Modi government has increased the cost of farming by Rs.25,000 per hectare in the last 9 years, while on the other hand, it pretends to give Rs.6,000 per farmer per year. But now the names of more than 2 crore farmers have been deleted from the ‘Kisan Samman Nidhi’. In April-July, 2022, 10,45,59,905 farmers received the eleventh instalment of ‘Kisan Samman Nidhi’, but in the twelfth instalment to be received in August-November, 2022, the number of farmers was reduced to Rs.8,42,14,408 i.e., 2,03, 45,497 farmers were thrown out of the secret door. (c) Agriculture Infrastructure Fund - ‘Naam Bade, Darshan Chhote’ (All that glitters is not gold) Three years ago, the Modi government boasted that an Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs. 1,00,000 crores had been created to double the income of farmers. Today, even after more than three years, only Rs. 12,000 crores have been given out of this, and that too to a few farmers. (d) PM Asha Yojana became ‘Kisan Nirasha Yojna’ (despair) The Modi government boasted and told the country that if the prices of crops like pulses, oilseeds, copra etc. would be less in the market, then the government has brought ‘Bhavantar Yojana’ i.e. PM Asha Yojana to compensate the difference in market prices. Lots of accolades were looted. But what is the truth? In the year 2021-22, a budget of only Rs. 500 crores, was kept in the PM Asha Yojana. It was eventually reduced to one crore rupees. Not a single penny was spent. This year i.e. in the budget of 2023-24, the budget of the whole country in PM Asha Yojana is only one lakh rupees. Perhaps this is the reason why when farmers in Shahabad, Kurukshetra demand MSP of sunflower, the BJP government kicks them on their backs and deprives them of any means of livelihood. The bitter truth is that according to the NSSO report released by the Modi government, the daily income of the country’s farmer is only Rs. 27, and the average debt is Rs. 74,000. It is dangerous for the country. The time has come for the Prime Minister to come in front of the country and answer 62 crore farmers.

(Based on press conference dated June 8, 2023)