The Union Government will deal the Cauvery issue keeping in mind farmers’ interest, said Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Panchayat Raj, Purushottam Rupala here on Wednesday.
He told reporters that the government would not look at it through a prism of elections. The decision would be in such a way that farmers in States that were parties to the dispute stood to gain.
The government cared for the farmers, and had devised several schemes for their welfare and development. It had brought in a comprehensive crop insurance scheme and the most to benefit from it were Tamil Nadu farmers. At the national level, 11 crore farmers had benefited.
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Agreeing that farmers’ suicide was a serious issue, Mr. Rupala said the government was doing all it could for the betterment of farmers. The government was implementing whatever schemes the previous governments had announced but not implemented in the last 25 years.
It had allocated ₹50,000 crore for the purpose.
As for determination of price of farm produce by farmers, the Minister said it was a complicated issue with a lot of ramifications. The government would take a decision on this soon but only after consulting farmers. It had already received several suggestions in this regard.
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The government was committed to river linking project and had even made budgetary allocation for the project, he added.
To a question on Tamil Nadu farmers’ protest in New Delhi, the Minister replied that that it was politically motivated.