Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on August 5 announced that the Central Government will invest Rs 18,000 crore to develop 100 agricultural export clusters.
Additionally, the Government plans to launch an oilseeds mission with an investment of Rs 6,800 crore to boost self-sufficiency in production, he announced during a discussion in Parliament on his ministry’s performance. Chouhan outlined plans to establish 50,000 climate-resilient villages and develop 1,500 new seed varieties to build a robust agriculture system. He also mentioned plans to provide farmers with digital identities as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts.
The minister criticised the Congress Party for treating farmers merely as vote banks and claimed that solutions to agricultural issues are being actively pursued by his ministry. In response, the Congress accused Chouhan of “lying” and “misleading” the Rajya Sabha. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala challenged the minister’s statements, citing a 2015 Supreme Court affidavit that rejected the idea of offering farmers a 50 per cent profit margin.
Surjewala also criticised the Government for not consistently buying crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which Chouhan admitted in the House, saying that the Government buys crops at minimum support price only when the need arises, indicating that it does not buy at MSP because it does not consider it necessary
