Continuing his drive to directly connect with the beneficiaries of his Government’s pet schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he will on June 20 speak to farmers on issues of developments and advancements in the agriculture sector. “On June 20 at 9:30 am, I will interact with the farmers of the country,” Modi said while interacting with the beneficiaries of the Digital India campaign on his app.
For the same event, Modi asked all the Common Services Centres (CSC) to bring 50-100 farmers to their offices. “In this, I need your support. I want you all to bring 50-100 farmers to each CS centre across India. We will talk about all the topics related to the farmers. I want to listen to their experiences. I feel proud how we Indians altogether are developing the nation with the power of vote,” Modi said.
This comes in the wake of the 10-day farmers’ strike, titled Kisan Avkash, across India that ended abruptly earlier this month without any clear gains for the agitators. The strike, led by Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, witnessed the participation of more than 130 farmer organisations, which made three demands-complete loan waiver, 50 per cent increase in C2 cost and fixing a minimum support price (MSP). On a similar note, late week, Congress president Rahul Gandhi also assured farmers of Madhya Pradesh that his party would waive aside all loans within 10 days of coming to power in the state.
Beginning with an interaction over video call with some of the 4 crore women who got free cooking gas (lPG) connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Modi has interacted with beneficiaries of health scheme and start-up programme. Modi on Friday interacted with beneficiaries of the various Digital India efforts.
Typically, during these interactions, Modi makes an opening statement about the subject or the scheme, after which beneficiaries gathered at different centres across the country narrate their experience.
To liven up the interaction, he tries to address the participants in their local language, like he did with those from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu at Friday’s session.
While at the first interaction with lPG beneficiaries, he asked a Tamil woman if he would get ‘dosa’ if he visits Tamil Nadu next, on Friday’s interaction he wished a Muslim participant ‘Eid Mubarak’.
Eid, which marks the culmination of a month long fasting, is to be celebrated in most parts of India Saturday.