New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh listed out some major failures of the BJP government’s policies on agriculture which he described as “most harmful” and “self-evident”.
“Of all the various failures of the Modi Government, the sheer incompetence and maliciousness of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is among the most harmful and self-evident,” the senior Congress leader said in a post on ‘X’.
Describing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to be “extortionate”, Ramesh said that the exorbitant GST rates pose a burden for farmers as it increases the rate of agriculture inputs like tractors and fertilizers.
“The design of the GST has been completely anti-farmer. Due to GST, nearly every input a farmer requires has gone up in price…under GST, the tax rate on tractors has been increased to 12%, while GST on tractor tyres is at 18% and spare parts at 28%. Meanwhile, fertilizer has been taxed at 5% under GST, in addition to high GST on fertilizer inputs like ammonia, at 18%…,” the Congress leader said.
Ramesh also pointed out that the Narendra Modi government by allowing cheap imports makes exports of agricultural products more difficult for famers.
“This hurts India’s farmers deeply – they are not only not getting fair market prices for their produce, but unpredictable export bans mean they cannot plan their crops properly,” he said.
The senior Congress leader also pointed out that over Rs 1 lakh crore allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has been “surrendered” after non-utilisation.
Ramesh also debunked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to “double farmers’ income” between 2016 and 2022, saying that to achieve this target, farmer incomes would have to grow by over 12 per cent each year for all six years.