BJP raps UPAs farm policies

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government responsible for the crisis in the farm sector and increasing number of farmers suicides.

New Delhi, Aug 20 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government responsible for the crisis in the farm sector and increasing number of farmers' suicides.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani said: "Nowhere in the world, farmers commit mass suicides. In India also such a situation never occurred in sixty years of its Independence. But for the past three years, these incidents have become common under Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister) and the UPA Government."

Advani said people were also unhappy with the UPA Government."I want to convey to the Congress and its allies that for the past three years this government has been in power. But now the people want it to go. Don't try to stall it," he said.

Economic growth of about eight percent in the past three years has made millions in the cities richer, but it has bypassed the farming sector that supports more than 60 percent of India's one billion-plus people.

Most of India's farming community is poverty-stricken and many farmers borrow from the village moneylender at rates as high as 10 percent a month.

In his address on the 60th anniversary of the Independence Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a slew of measures to improve the farming sector.

He announced a Central investment of 250 billion rupees in agriculture to increase food production and lift the livelihood of millions of farmers burdened by debts.

An estimated 5,000 farmers have committed suicides over six years across the country.

ANI