Pleading Punjab’s case in a meeting of NDA constituents, former Chief Minister and SAD patron, Parkash Singh Badal on Monday stressed the need for some “out of box” policy initiatives and some brave decisions to save the “beleaguered peasantry” in the country, especially in the food bowl of the country, Punjab.
Describing the farmers as “social and economic backbone of the country”, Badal lamented that this back was now in danger of being broken under too much stress which it carried for every other segment of economy.
He said that all the growth and progress being made by the country can come to nothing if the farmers of the country continued to face poverty, debt and unfavourable market realities.
Calling for some major initiatives to make farming a remunerative profession, Badal vehemently advocated the need for one-time loan waiver for farmers.
“UPA waived loans of big industrial and business houses in the country, amounting to lakhs of crores in each case,” he said.
“But no one deserves loan waiver more than the farmers do. Their contribution to national economy and to its progress is so big that any help given to farmers actually translates into a boost for every sector of economy because a prosperous farming community means more spending, and more spending means more trade, more production, more taxes and consequently more investments,” he added.
Badal stated that the best way to kickstart and boost our economy is to give a fillip to the farming sector because the entire spiral effect on the economy begins with it. But this was not realized by planners and policy makers in our country, he said.
“In Punjab, the SAD-BJP government had taken some path breaking measures like free power to farmers and that had provided the much needed space for breathing to the peasantry…Free power to farm sector is not a subsidy but an investment into the most critical economic sector for overall progress,” Badal said.
But there is a bias against the farmers in the minds of the academic and intellectual elite, he said adding that they don’t realize the incredible benefits to the entire economy which can flow from a one-time relief in the form of loan waiver and a favourable farm insurance and assurance policy.
Badal praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister for his initiative in loan waiver for farmers saying that this needed to be replicated in other states.
He also stressed on the need for “genuine federal structure in the country with greater economic autonomy and more breathing space for states in determining their development priorities”.
Congratulating the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA-led Central Government for taking “some brave decisions in this regard”, he maintained that the process needs to be taken forward.
He also emphasized the need for extending major tax relief to agriculture allied professions like fisheries, dairying, bee keeping etc. “These should be regarded at par with agriculture for income tax calculators and should be exempted from GST too. This will help in the process of crop diversification as well as agricultural diversification,” he said.