Rahul Gandhi to seek debt waiver for farmers

NEW DELHI: During Congress Rahul Gandhi’s tour of Uttar Pradesh, ‘Deoria to Delhi Kisan Yatra’ from September 6, the Congress vice-president will make three demands designed to garner the support of farmers and set the tone of party’s campaign for next year’s assembly elections.

According to party sources, Gandhi will demand the Modi government announce a debt-waiver for farmers, as done by the UPA regime. He will also demand the Akhilesh Yadav government slash the state’s “unrealistically high power tariff for rural consumption, which has hit the farming community most.”

Thirdly, Gandhi will demand that the Modi government hike the minimum support price for procurement of paddy and wheat. “There is an estimated Rs 50,000 crore total debt on farmers of UP which works out to Rs 27,300 per farmer.

This is one major factor that cripples the lives of kisans of the state. Rahulji will demand, the Modi government waive off this kisan debts by following a similar debt-waiver the Congress-led UPA government had announced in 2008,” said the source.

Further, Gandhi would demand that the Centre double the MSP for wheat and rice procurements in order to ensure farmers get a sustainable remuneration.