CPI terms decision to permit farmers to purchase seeds from government agencies by giving old Rs.500 notes as joke and fraud

Ludhiana, November 22, 2016: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has termed the decision to permit farmers to purchase seeds from the government agencies by giving old Rs.500/- notes as a joke and fraud. Dr Arun Mitra – Assistant Secretary CPI Ludhiana said that the government agencies meet up to nearly 5% of the demands of seeds in our country. In Punjab wheat as to be sown on 35 lakh hectares of land. The government agencies have the capacity to supply only 10% of the seeds. What will happen to the rest asked Dr Arun Mitra. Seeds are not the only input required for sowing; insecticides, pesticides and several other inputs are also needed. From where they will come? In case of delayed sowing the yield will become less which will ultimately have adverse effect on the food security. The CPI has always been demanding that the government should take responsibility of supplying the agriculture inputs to the farmers and also purchase the final product. Only by this way the problems of the peasantry can be solved. But the present government and the BJP have been opposing this and are responsible for pushing the farming community to the mercy of private sector. We demand that the process of purchasing the inputs by the farmers should be made easy and the restriction on purchasing only from the government agencies should be removed so as to prevent delay in sowing.