Nothing for us in budget, say growers in Terai

RUDRAPUR: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday presented the last Union Budget of the present NDA government with focus on agricultural sector. The farmers in Uttarakhand’s Terai region, however, called the budget a "disappointing one".
President of Terai Kisan Mahasabha, Tejender Singh Virk, told TOI, “There is just the lip service for the farmers. The government has not paid attention to the plight of farmers who are committing suicides across the country.”
“This government for four years now and the Congress government earlier announced 1.5 times higher MSP of crops every year.It was never implemented. This time too, the implementation has been delayed to kharif crop in October rather than rabi which begins in April,” Virk said.
The farmer leader said if they wanted to help agriculturalists, “The government should have rather ensured the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report which was tabled in 2006.”
Thakur Jagdish Singh, secretary of RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, said, “The government has done nothing to improve the processing system of the crops. The government should have encouraged public sector storage centres where farmers could keep their crops and get good returns.”
Balvinder Singh, president of Terai Crop Merchants' Association, said, “Economic Survey has revealed that the farmers’ income isn’t rising. They are opting for other professions and the government has done nothing in this budget to stop them. Monopoly of crop processing plants has ruined marginal farmers.”
Natthu Lal Bathla, a farmer in Jafarpur village of US Nagar, said, “The government imported sugar, but could not give the promised rates to the farmers.”