Farmers from 20 states want their pie in Union Budget
Ahead of the Union Budget, farmers across the country have asked the government to consider agriculture as a separate entity and allocate a separate budget for it, besides interlink of all the rivers. Farmers from more than 20 states of the country had assembled under one banner and put forth their demands to MPs, Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister and the Planning Commission. Senior officials of the Consortium of Indian Farmers' Association (CIFA) said the farming community in the country wants a permanent solution to their problems rather than a short-term one through bonus on crops. "Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath have agreed to a long-term policy,' they told The Indian Express. CIFA secretary general Prabhakar K Reddy said they had urged the ministers to fix rates of crops based on cost of cultivation. He said they have also asked that rivers across the country should be interlinked so that input costs could be cut down. Farmer leaders from 24 states of the country had also met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Telgu Desham party chief Chandrababu Naidu. "A meeting of all MPs across the country has been scheduled for March 15 at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi for an open debate,' said farmers. Reddy said, "The government should have a national policy on agriculture and the report of National Farmers' Commission Chairman MS Swaminathan should be put implemented.' Punjab president of the CIFA Satnam Singh Baheru said if the MPs failed to pay heed to their plight, they would blacklist them and never vote for them.