Narendra Modi's failure to deliver electoral promise has cost us Rs 2 lakh crore, says farmer's body

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failure to implement his electoral promise of 50 percent profit above the cost of production has resulted in about Rs 2 lakh crore loss to farmers in the country this kharif season, farmers unions said on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4174735” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] In addition, the government has failed to stop market prices from falling below the current Minimum Support Price (MSP) so farmers had to sell their produce at lower rates, even below the cost of production in some cases, causing an expected loss of Rs 35,968 crore to them, said the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella body of over 180 farmer organisations. Addressing media persons here, the AIKSCC sought complete loan waiver and remuneration of 50 per cent margin above the cost of production as per Modi’s promise. To press their demands, farmer unions have decided to hold a protest, Kisan Mukti Sansad, in the national capital on November 20. Farmers leader from Maharashtra and Lok Sabha Member Raju Shetty said over one lakh farmers were expected to participate in the protest. In last few months, AIKSCC leaders held several rallies across the country to unite farmers on these issues, saying there would not have been farmer suicides if the government had not “looted” them. Farmer activist from Telangana, Kirankumar Vissa, said farmers must have lost Rs 2 lakh crore when their earnings this season, as per the the government data, were compared with the remuneration they would have got with the promised 50 percent profit on the MSP. AIKSCC leaders said farmers in Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh were forced to sell produce below the MSP, putting them under financial stress. So farmers were in a dire need of loan waiver and proper remuneration, said Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India. On 20 November, a draft Bill encompassing the two demands will be introduced in the Kisan Mukti Sansad and it will be debated and passed by the farmers’ Parliament. “We will invite the leaders of political parties and prime minister to come to the sansad if they are ready to support the Bill and the demands,” said VM Singh, convener of the AIKSCC.