GUWAHATI, Jan 8 � The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday demanded implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission so that farmers are not deprived of due prices.
Addressing mediapersons here, national president of BJP Kisan Morcha Om Prakash Dhankar said that wrong policies adopted by the UPA government have pushed the farmers into a state of desperation even to the extent of committing suicide.
�The Congress is indifferent towards the problems of farmers. We demand of the government to come up with a formula to fix the minimum price for agricultural produce,� said Dhankar insisting that the government take up the necessary steps to inform the farmers about the prevailing market prices.
It needs to be mentioned here that the party had organized a two-day workshop of the farmers of Assam from January 7 in Guwahati to calculate the cost of production of paddy and jute. Similar work-shops have been held in other parts of the country like in Chandigarh, Bangalore, Patna etc. This workshop here was conducted by Dhankar, and morcha national secretaries Anil Sharma and Shiladitya Dev.
�The farmers who attended the workshop have resolved that as per Swaminathan Commission, 50 percent profit should be included in the cost of production which will ensure them profit on their produce,� said Dhankar.
On the other hand, Shiladitya Dev pointed out that as per the calculations of the farmers who participated in the workshop, the cost of cultivation of paddy came to around Rs 1250 per quintal, and cost of production of jute came to Rs 2000 per quintal. �In Assam the market is controlled by syndicate and so farmers are cheated. There is about Rs 250 loss per quintal in case of paddy,� said Dev. He further said that in Assam there was no vision to make agriculture a profitable business and the government was not bothered about quality seeds, good fertilizers, proper markets and has not even calculated minimum support price for the various produce.
Warning that the morcha would launch a vigorous movement across the country including Assam if the government failed to act on the demands of the farmers, the party functionaries said that the farmers will demand right price for their produce on January 21. The day would be observed as Save Farmers Day.
