With months to go for the Lok Sabha Elections scheduled in April-May next year, the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) is likely to make a major announcement for the farmers of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to seek another term in power, held a three-hour meeting with his important aides at his residence on Wednesday evening.
The meeting was attended by top BJP leaders– Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP President Amit Shah, and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. According to the sources, a broad farm relief plan was being discussed in the meeting. Sources from the finance ministry said that the government is likely to announce a new set of relief measures for the farmers by the end of winter session on January 5.
The BJP mulling over a wide-ranging farm relief can be seen as the party’s way of dealing with the ongoing agrarian crisis. The farmers’ anger and distress are assessed as the major reasons for BJP being drubbed in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh in the recent Assembly Polls 2019.
Sources say the plan of the BJP government is to go beyond the farm loan waivers. The government is considering to pay farmers the difference between the Minimum Support Price for their crop and the market rate. This difference will be credited directly to the bank accounts of the farmers. This idea is inspired by the “Bhavantar (price difference) Scheme” followed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. Also, another scheme from BJP-ruled Jharkhand to give direct fixed subsidy to farmers is likely to be explored by the ministers.
The central government is also pondering over an increase in the credit limit in the Kisan Credit Card Scheme to benefit the farmers.
Also, the Modi government decided a few months back to fix the Minimum Support Price(MSP) at percent over production cost.
Leaders say that the new broad farm-relief plan is an answer to Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi‘s claim that his party would not let PM Modi sleep until an all-India farm-loan waiver scheme is announced.