Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh began his week-long hunger-strike in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) on Monday to protest against the state government not fulfilling the demands of the farmers.
On July 5, Singh had highlighted some of the demands of the farmers to the media that needed to be met by the State Government, such as compensation for farmers whose houses were destroyed last year in floods, provision of soya bean seeds for the ones who suffered a loss from soya bean harvest, submission of farmer's insurance money in their account, provision of pesticides through the marketing society and mandi.
He had also said that during the strike will only consume watermelon, glucose and water.
‘BJP wants to keep loP position vacant’
Reacting to the issue of leader of Opposition (loP), Digvijay Singh said that the Congress should definitely get the position of loP and the government should take the initiative on this.
He also criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for purposely wanting the loP position to remain vacant. "BJP and Prime Minster Narendra Modi want loP position vacant so that they can form lokpal with their own choice," said Singh.
The tussle over getting the post of loP between the Congress and the Government has been going on for a while with the Congress pushing its case for the post on grounds that it has the most seats (44) in the opposition.
Currently, the leader of the opposition is equivalent to the rank of a Cabinet Minister.
The leader of Opposition also has an important role to play in several key Government appointments, such as Chief Vigilance Commissioner etc.
‘Consider financial background before setting poverty line’
Singh said that the poverty line should be based on the financial background of a person. "The definition of poverty is different for different areas. At some places even 50 rupees are enough and at some places even 200 are less. So, the family background and financial condition of a person should be considered before setting the poverty line. Issues like weather a person is a victim of malnutrition or not, weather he owns his own house and land or not and how much wealth he posses should be considered."
A panel headed by former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister C Rangarajan sets the poverty line at Rs32 per day in rural areas and Rs47 in urban areas.
The Rangarajan Committee was set up last year to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and clear the ambiguity over the number of poor in the country.