Dairy farmers demand higher export subsidy, MSP
New Delhi, July 31: Scores of dairy farmers demonstrated here on Tuesday and spilled milk on the road, demanding subsidy in exports and fixed minimum price of their produce from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gathered under the banner of All India Progressive Dairy Farmers Association (AIPDFA), they threatened of a nation-wide agitation if their demands were not met within 15 days and submitted a list of their demands to the Prime Minister.
"Modi government promised to double the agriculture income by 2022 and the Central government announced hike in the MSPs for various crops, but it completely ignored the dairy farmers who contribute 26 per cent in total agriculture GDP of the country.
"Many agriculture farmers have adopted dairy farming as a side business to compensate losses in the crops, while many others are totally dependent on dairy farming. Dairy farming is a cash business which runs the kitchens of rural families on a daily basis," AIPDFA President S. Daljit Singh Sadarpur said at the protest.
Farmers are demanding a fixed price of Rs 30 for cow milk and Rs 50 for buffalo milk, apart from 50 per cent export subsidy in place of 10 per cent, which the government has on offer now.
Talking to IANS, Sadarpur stressed that dairy farmers are in a bad shape partly because of stocking of three lakh metric tonne condensed milk for export in various warehouses of the country, which could not be exported because of slump in international prices.
"We have demanded an export subsidy of 50 per cent from the government, but it has offered us only 10 per cent. Only three months are left before the off season starts, no one will buy our milk for even Rs 20. Situation will become very bad then for farmers across the country," Sadarpur said.
Farmers have also demanded exemption from GST on all milk products and zero import duty on farm machinery and tools.
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Cong cites Kangana's purported remarks to accuse BJP of wanting to bring back repealed farm laws
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.
The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.
"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."
In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."
Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.
"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."
"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".
"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.
The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.
The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.
“तीनों किसान क़ानून वापस लाये जाने चाहिए” : BJP MP कंगना रनौत
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) September 24, 2024
जिन तीन काले किसान विरोधी क़ानूनों की मुख़ालिफ़त करते 750 से ज़्यादा किसान शहीद हो गए
उनको दोबारा से लाने की कोशिश की जा रही है. हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे
सबसे पहला जवाब हरियाणा देगा pic.twitter.com/kRAkRuE2cc
