Lucknow/Varanasi, Aug.20 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday lashed out at Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma for saying that farmers are benefiting from inflation.
Verma's statement comes just days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed on the need to curb food inflation which continues to rise by over 10 percent annually.
Senior BJP leaders slammed Verma, saying that rather then profiting from the rising prices of food products, farmers in the country were being forced to commit suicide as they faced the brunt of inflation and were reeling under heavy debt.
In Lucknow, senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra said farmers were failing to make profit after selling their produce in the market and were unable to repay the bank loans.
"In reality farmers are suffering under the burden of inflation. He is spending more on production. However, the produce is sold at a less price and is not in accordance with the investment made by the farmer. Either it is pulses, wheat or rice, the farmer is forced to sell these products at a less price. In turn the farmer is forced to take loan so that he can undertake agricultural production and sells it at below par rates. He fails to pay the interest for the loan and is then forced to commit suicide," said Mishra.
In Varanasi, another senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi also echoed Mishra's views and said that he was yet to meet a farmer who has benefited from inflation, but he has seen many who were dying because of the heavy economic burden caused due to inflation.
"My reaction to this statement is that maybe Beni Prasad Verma is not aware of the fact that farmers are the biggest losers due to rise in prices. Prices of fertilizers have risen, , prices of electricity have increased, prices of water, seeds, sacks, labour has increased, cycles have become costlier, price of diesel has increased and I have never come across a farmer who has benefited from this price rice. Although I have seen farmers committing suicide due to the inflation," said Joshi.
Inflation dropped to 6.87 percent in July from 7.25 percent in June as domestic gasoline and vegetable prices fell in July. But global oil prices have been rising since then and drought in some parts of India is threatening fresh inflationary pressures.
Poor rains have slowed the speed of planting Kharif crops such as rice, cereals, pulses and oilseeds including soybean, but areas under sugar cane and cotton, primarily grown in irrigated regions, have been higher than the previous year.
More than half of the arable land in India, one of the world's biggest producers of cotton, rice, sugar and wheat, is rain-fed.
A successful monsoon means rural residents have more money to spend on everything from motorcycles to refrigerators. (ANI)
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