Demonetisation Left Agricultural Sector Crumbling, Admits Ministry After 2 Years
In the latest development, Union Agriculture Ministry has admitted that the demonetisation drive did little to relieve farmers as millions of them were unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for their upcoming winter season in 2016
Two years ago on November 08, the Bharatiya Janata Party declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will no longer be legal tender. Demonetization as the nation remembers forced people to stand in long queues from dawn to dusk to exchange illegal tender and get new currency.
The move which was aimed at eradicating black money and putting a full stop to corruption was widely criticised. In a report submitted by the Reserve Bank of India this year, it was revealed that 99 per cent of the demonetised currency had come back to them.
In the latest development, Union Agriculture Ministry has admitted that the demonetisation drive did little to relieve farmers as millions of them were unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for their upcoming winter season in 2016, the Hindu reported.
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¡ª Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 21, 2018
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The shortcomings were listed in a report tabled in front of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance. During the time of this anti-corruption drive, farmers were either yielding Kharif crops or were sowing rabi crops. Both these operations required huge amounts of cash. Demonetisation rendered all the cash they had in hand useless.
Prices of all the crops hit a bottom low the day demonetisation was announced. The report further mentioned that even government seeds could not be sold. Even the big farmers who had small farmers working under them were deprived of money and couldn¡¯t pay their labourers.
According to local media reports, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Congress MP Veerappa Moily, was on Tuesday briefed on the impact of demonetisation by the Ministries of Agriculture, Labour and Employment, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
When this "only spin, no truth" government actually starts acknowledging that farmers were badly hit by Modi's midnight demonetisation disaster, you can well imagine how terrible the actual state of farmers has been under Modi govt. https://t.co/w8WTYJzLC7
¡ª Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) November 21, 2018
The government despite allowing the use of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for wheat seeds failed to revive the sales for farmer produce. Even the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) failed to sell nearly 1.38 lakh quintals of wheat seeds because of the cash crunch, according to TH.
This report comes at a time when President of opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi criticised Modi for targeting farmers. On Saturday, the Congress chief tagged on Twitter a video of the prime minister's speech during the poll campaign in Chhattisgarh, where he alleged that people were hiding their black money under beds and in wheat stocks in their homes before the note ban.
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¡ª Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 17, 2018
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Being an unorganized sector, the farmers were forced to dump their produce on the grounds. Farmers¡¯ distress is an important issue in three of the five States that are facing Assembly poll: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
