Sun, 19 January , 2025 Home About Us Advertisement Contact Us
Breaking News

MANPREET SLAMS GOVERNMENT FOR INCREASING FARMERS SUICIDES

manpreet-badal-1

Suicides by four farmers within 48 hours must shake Badal government: Manpreet

Chandigarh, August 3: People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today expressed strong concern over increasing incidence of suicides by the farmers in this agriculturally the most advanced state as evident from four suicides within 48 hours that should be enough to shake out of slumber the Akali Dal-BJP regime in the state headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had always championed the cause of the farming community.

“These farmers including Bikar Singh, Naib Singh, Karamvir Singh and Jarnail Singh were from the Malwa hinterland whose families have attributed their suicides to the debt burden. Not that these incidents are new to the state but it is the increasing incidence that should shake the government out of policy paralysis rather than indulging in blame game. Nothing stops the state from coming out with its own farm policy. People have been doing experiments in diversification and food processing without any back up from the state government”, he added.

Manpreet said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had gone to Hungry and Poland to invite investment and seek food processing technology in sectors like floriculture and dairy farming which was nothing by ridiculous. He should know that a number of farmers had been cultivating flowers successfully in Punjab. What was needed was the marketing support from the government that was lacking.

He recalled that the state government had announced what was called Second Push to Agriculture in 2000 annual budget but the plan never took off. None stopped the government from proceeding with its implementation.

He reminded the Chief Minister that he had been talking of new farm policy once the BJP government was installed at the centre but now it had been in power for more than a year and the Akali Dal was a partner but the Narendra Modi government had focussed on the farm sector for all the wrong reasons while declaring that it would not implement the Swaminathan Committee recommendations ensuring 50 per cent profit to the farmers over and above the cost of production.

He demanded both short term and long term policy initiatives to end this major distortion in the farm sector.

Comments

comments