Govt, SP trade barbs over farmers’ income

Lucknow: Citing central government data, the Samajwadi Party claimed in the Vidhan Parishad on Tuesday that there has been an increase of only Rs 3 in the monthly income of a farmer’s family since 2015-16, contrary to the claims by the state government that it has doubled their income.The SP alleged that since the government had no data on the cost price of agricultural produce, its claims of having doubled the income of farmers was dubious.Contradicting the Opposition’s charges, agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi highlighted the initiatives taken by the state and central governments to reduce input cost by farmers, from reduction in cost of power, fertilisers, distribution of free seeds etc., which effectively increased the farmers’ income. SP MLC Ashutosh Sinha, however, claimed that there was disconnect between the state and central government data. “On July 23, 2021, in a response given in Parliament, the minister concerned had said that the per month income of a farmer in 2015-16 was Rs 8,058 while in 2021 it increased to Rs 8,061. This is an increase of only Rs 3 per month,” he said.Shahi said that the central and state governments had taken several measures to increase the income of farmers. This included a payment of Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers.“During its tenure, the SP government had purchased wheat for Rs 28,000 crore while we have already made purchases of over Rs 1 lakh crore,” he said.