Govt to Ensure Fair Prices to Farmers: Modi

New Delhi: Highlighting the seriousness of the government towards providing the right price to the farmers for their produce, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the government bought the farmers’ produce at an increased minimum support price (MSP) and handed out more than Rs 15-lakh crores to the farmers during the last nine years.

"On average, the government is spending more than Rs 6.5-lakh crores a year on agriculture and farmers. The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around Rs 50,000 every year in some way or the other," said Mr Modi while addressing the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress.

Highlighting the farmer welfare approach of the government, Mr Modi informed about the recent package of Rs 3.7-lakh crores for the fertiliser sector as well as the increase in the fair and remunerative price for sugarcane farmers at Rs 315 per quintal. This will directly benefit 5 lakh sugarcane farmers and people working in sugar mills, the PM added.

The Prime Minister also elaborated on ways of ensuring that farmers are not burdened by increasing global fertiliser prices. He said that a farmer today pays about Rs 270 for a bag of urea, whereas the same bag is priced at Rs 720 in Bangladesh, Rs 800 in Pakistan, Rs 2,100 in China and Rs 3,000 in the USA.

"This shows what a guarantee looks like and what massive efforts are needed to change the lives of the farmers", he said.

The Prime Minister said that in the last nine years, more than Rs 10-lakh crores have been spent on just fertiliser subsidies and asserted that the Centre is delivering rather than just talking about promises, in an apparent dig at the Congress party over poll guarantees.

"The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around Rs 50,000 every year in some way or the other. This means that under the BJP government at the Centre, there is a guarantee that every farmer gets Rs 50,000 in various forms. Ye Modi ki guarantee hai. Aur maine jo kiya hai, woh bata raha hoon, vaade nahi bata raha hoon," the PM said.

The Prime Minister asked the cooperatives to become models of transparency and corruption-free governance and to be carriers of social and national policy instead of politics. He said the cooperatives should adopt digital tools in a big way and called upon them to work towards increasing production of oilseeds and pulses and helping the country become self-reliant in cooking oils.

Mr Modi also highlighted the contributions of dairy cooperatives in making India the world's leading milk producer and the role of cooperatives in making India one of the top sugar-producing countries in the world. He underlined that cooperatives have become a huge support system for small farmers in many parts of the country.

The Prime Minister highlighted that it was the first time that a separate ministry was formed and a Budget was allocated for cooperatives. Now, Mr Modi said, cooperatives are being presented with a platform exactly like that of the corporate sector.

The PM talked about the measures to strengthen cooperative societies and mentioned the reduction in tax rates. He highlighted the measures taken to strengthen cooperative banks.

Mr Modi also noted that through the Digital India campaign, the government increased transparency, ensured benefits for the beneficiaries, and stressed that digital systems should be promoted in the cooperative sector.

Underlining that the main cooperative societies at the primary level (PACS) will become a model for transparency, Mr Modi said that the computerization of more than 60,000 PACS has already taken place. He stressed that cooperatives should make full use of the technology available to them and that the nation will hugely benefit from the acceptance of core banking and digital transactions by cooperative societies.