AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Tuesday that the Tamil Nadu government’s Agriculture Budget had “let down” farmers.
Addressing journalists outside the Assembly, Mr. Palaniswami recalled that the DMK, in its manifesto for the 2021 election, had assured cane growers that it would give them ₹4,000 per tonne and ₹ 2,500 per quintal of paddy in the minimum support price. But the Budget, the third after the DMK assumed office, had nothing to offer. It had only stated that cane growers would get a special incentive of ₹195 over and above the fair and remunerative price of ₹2,821 a tonne.
In a statement, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, said the Budget did not deal with the shortage of agricultural workers. Instead, it talked about mechanisation. It was pushing the farmers to “the level of frustration”, he said.
