Give farm relief before pay hike to
government staff: Tiwari
NAGPUR: Kishore Tiwari, president of the special task force appointed by the Maharashtra government to address the agrarian crisis, has appealed to prime minister Narendra Modi that the government should put farmers before the government employees.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Tiwari said the Central government itself would incur a Rs 1 lakh crore burden on the public exchequer by implementing the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. The Centre has already declared that it would give the huge wage hike to its employees. But the government has once again ignored the plight of 65% of the country's population. Farmers live in misery as there do not get adequate rates for the crop, Tiwari said. "The situation in 14 districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha regions in Maharashtra show that the penniless farmer is driven to suicide as he has lost all hopes since farming is no longer an economic proposition.
"In this regard, the Centre should first implement the M S Swaminathan Commission report which has given a number of solutions to erase farm distress including fixing support price of crops based on input costs and factoring a 50% profit over that cost. There is also need to increase loan spread and represent the exploitative market with one that takes care of farmers' interest," said Tiwari.
Instead of looking to basic survival needs of this vast chunk of countrymen living in rural parts, the Centre is keen on pampering the already over-fed and idling government employees rewarding them with a generous wage hike, Tiwari lamented.
"At least the Swaminathan report should be implemented first and then give hike to the government employees who are loath to live in villages and prefer comforts of urban life," said the farm activist, who has been appointed as the task force to check rising number of farmer suicides in the state, especially in drylands of Marathwada and Vidarbh
