As protesting farmers continued to mass and hold their ground on Delhi’s borders on Saturday, amid attempts at a breakthrough in talks with the Centre, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi considered them as his family members.
Addressing the BJP’s ongoing national convention at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam in the national capital, Rajnath said the NDA government has done more for farmers and the agriculture sector than all previous governments at the Centre.
The Defence Minister said the BJP’s roadmap for the country’s development will be before the people once the party is elected for a third, straight term at the Centre.
“A lot has been done over the last 10 years of this government in the interest of farmers. The highest input cost for farmers is the one that goes into purchasing and sourcing fertilisers. Across the world, today, a bag of urea is priced at Rs 3,000 but in our country, it is available at Rs 300 per bag. The budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector used to be Rs 25,000 crore before 2014. However, it has since been increased to Rs 1,25,000 crore. Nearly Rs 18 lakh crore has been received by farmers in the form of MSP in the last 10 years. Our government has given 2.5 per cent more MSP to the farmers. Also, till now, farmers have received Rs 2,80,000 crore under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Under PM Safal Bima Yojana, they paid Rs 30 crore in premiums and successfully claimed Rs 1.5 lakh crore,” Rajnath said.
“Today, India’s agricultural export has reached Rs 4 lakh crore. I previously served the country as the Agriculture Minister and can say with full confidence that our government has done more for the farmers than all previous regimes at the Centre combined. For PM, farmers are no less than his family members. He has always been very sympathetic towards the problems and distress faced by our farmers,” the Raksha Mantri added.
He stated further that under the Centre’s ‘Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme’, Rs 3 lakh crore in public wealth was saved from falling into the wrong hands.
“Our government strove relentlessly to transfer the money (allocated under central initiatives) to the account of every beneficiary under the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme. The result was that Rs 3 lakh crore in public money was saved from falling into the wrong hands. In 2014, startups in India numbered only between 300-500. Today, the number has grown upwards of 1,20,000. Mobile manufacturing, too, has gone up five times in just the last 10 years. To ensure ease of doing business, 40,000 compliances have either been removed or simplified. Capital expenditure has gone up five times in 10 years to Rs 10 lakh crore,” Rajnath said.
He noted further that more than 25,000 railway tracks have been laid and more than 1300 railway stations have seen an overhaul under the ‘Amrit Bharat Station’ Scheme.
“The length of the high-speed corridor, which was 500 km 10 years ago, has today increased to more than 4000 kms. Nearly two lakh gram panchayats in the country have been connected with optical fibre. Under Ayushman Bharat, more than Rs 1 lakh crore has been set aside for the poor. A discount of 80 per cent on medicines is also available at PM Jan Aushdi Kendras. It has saved the poor save Rs 30,000 crore in medical expenses,” he added.
“Today the poor are getting loans without guarantees. They are part of the guarantees of PM Modi,” Rajnath said.
In a veiled swipe at the TMC government in West Bengal over the violent crackdowns on Opposition protests and allegations of excesses on women in Sandeshkhali, the Defence Minister said such incidents are a blot on a civilized society.
“Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali is reprehensible. I commend our workers, who are fighting for the distressed women of Sandeshkhali in the face of state oppression and tyranny. Such incidents are a blot on a civilised society. It should be condemned in the strongest terms,” he said. (ANI)
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