PM Modi lashes out at Mamata Govt for stopping central benefits for West Bengal farmers
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal while alleging that they have destroyed the state and was doing politics by stopping over 70 lakh farmers of the state from getting benefits of the Centre's flagship PM-KISAN scheme under which Rs 6,000 is being provided every year.
The prime minister wondered while there were agitations against the new farm bills, no protests were visible against West Bengal's decision of not implementing PM-Kisan scheme.
Around 70 lakh farmers of West Bengal are not getting the benefit of this scheme, which is fully funded by the Centre, he said while addressing a virtual event after releasing over Rs 18,000 crore to more than nine crore farmer families under the 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi' (PM-KISAN).
Under the PM-KISAN scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to small and marginal farmers, payable in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Assembly elections are due in West Bengal by the middle of this year.
Modi said the Mamata Banerjee government has destroyed West Bengal and was playing politics by stopping benefits for farmers in the state.
He said the entire country is benefiting from the PM-KISAN programme, but only one state, West Bengal, has not implemented this scheme.
As a result, over 70 lakh farmers are not able to take benefit of this scheme and this money is not reaching them, he said, adding that this is because of political reasons.
Modi said more than 23 lakh West Bengal farmers have applied online to take advantage of this scheme, but the state government has stopped the verification process for so long.
"Why there was no protest for ensuring PM-KISAN money," he said.
"If you listen to 15 years old speech of Mamta Ji, then you will know how much this ideology has ruined Bengal," he said.
Modi said everyone knows how the state has been ruined by the political ideology of those who ruled there for decades.
"The public is watching those doing selfish politics very closely. The parties that do not speak on the benefit of farmers in West Bengal are engaged in harassing the citizens of Delhi here in the name of the farmers and are ruining the economy of the country," he said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
