Hooda meets farmer leaders ahead of Congress' Chintan Shivir

Ahead of the Congress Chintan Shivir to be held next week in Udaipur, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday met farmer leaders here and had a detailed discussion with them on issues of agriculture and peasantry.Hooda, who is also the convener of the partys committee on agriculture, met farmer leaders from different states and discussed various issues affecting them.The Congress brainstorming sessions are to be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan from May 13 to 15.

Ahead of the Congress' 'Chintan Shivir' to be held next week in Udaipur, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday met farmer leaders here and had a detailed discussion with them on issues of agriculture and peasantry.

Hooda, who is also the convener of the party's committee on agriculture, met farmer leaders from different states and discussed various issues affecting them.

The Congress brainstorming sessions are to be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan from May 13 to 15. Farmer leaders who attended the meeting apprised Hooda of challenges faced by the farming community and gave him their suggestions on how to tackle them, a Congress statement said here.

Hooda later said farmer leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand, besides Tamil Nadu and Karnataka participated in the meeting. Those who attended the meeting at Hooda's Delhi residence included Rakesh Tikait, Yudhveer Singh, Manju Kiran, Ishaan, Ratanman, Ladi Sokhda, Vijay Shastri, Sagar Manwal, Arjun Chaudhary, Ankur Chaudhary, Ravindra Dhama, Jaibir Hooda, Arun Lather, among others, the statement said.

Hooda assured farmer leaders that the suggestions and issues raised by them would be included in the party's agenda for the upcoming Chintan Shivir. He said everyone agreed that the biggest agenda was to make farming profitable by giving MSP to farmers under the C2 formula of the Swaminathan Commission. “We have always advocated giving MSP under the C2 formula (50 per cent profit over the input cost) as suggested by the Swaminathan Commission. It was also recommended by the Committee of Chief Ministers formed under my chairmanship in 2009 (during the UPA government). ''Many recommendations made by the committee were implemented by the then UPA government. For example, the interest rate on short term loans was reduced to four per cent across the country. Not only this, the then Congress government in Haryana had reduced it to zero,” he said. Hooda, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana assembly, said the mere announcement of the minimum support price by the government is not enough, a law should be made to guarantee it to ensure that all farmers get the MSP. Suggestions were also made in the meeting to reduce the input cost of farming, he said.

''Farmer leaders also talked about problems faced by farmers in getting subsidies and compensations. They also discussed the issue of increasing debt burden on farmers and the challenge of irrigation, besides the impact of the national import and export policy on farmers,'' the Congress statement said.

''Farmer leaders said exim policy should be determined keeping in mind the farmers' interests,'' it added.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said it is necessary for both the Opposition and the ruling party to discuss farmers' issues.

Farmer leader Yudhveer Singh said the Bhupinder Singh Hooda committee's recommendations to the government in 2009 need to be implemented. While fixing the MSP, the methodology of computing the cost of production also needs to be improved.

The Congress party had last month announced that the 'Chintan Shivir', a three-day brainstorming session from May 13 to May 15, would be held in Udaipur.

About 400 top party leaders are expected to attend the camp. Senior leaders including those in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), members of parliament, state in-charges, general secretaries, and state presidents will also participate in the Chintan Shivir.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)