Farmers Protest: PM Modi said Rs 1 lakh crore was transferred into farmers' accounts
PM Modi arrived at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh today afternoon to inaugurate the six-lane Varanasi-Prayagraj Highway on the occasion of Dev Deepawali. It is his first visit to the constituency amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The prime minister also spoke about the farmers' protest which has entered its fifth day today. Thousands of farmers are protesting against the new Farm Laws, camping outside and blocking the five entry points to Delhi.
Over the last five days, thousands of farmers, braving water cannons, tear gas and barricades of the Haryana police, have reached the borders of the national capital. While some of them have managed to enter the city, the rest are sitting at the border areas.
Here are the highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech:
2013 was my first jansabha at this ground. The highway was 4-lane at that time. Now it has six lanes: PM
Travel from Kashi to Prayagraj is now easy with the highway's extension. It will have its benefits during the Kumbh Mela: PM
In a few years, apart from beautification of Kashi, we have worked on connectivity as well. Be it highways or flyovers or broadening of roads to reduce traffic. The amount of work we have put here has not happened since Independence. I just want peoples' lives to get easier. In six years, hundreds and thousands of crores of projects have been completed. Many are in pipeline: PM
Railway connectivity is also better now. Ring road development, which is in full swing, will help commuters from and to Sultanpur, Azamgarh and Ghazipur: PM
Work on other highways will be completed shortly. Commute will be easy. We look at convenience of the people. Construction gives livelihood to many. We have given a lot of work to people even during the coronavirus pandemic: PM
Uttar Pradesh is now Express Pradesh. In UP, five mega projects are currently underway for increased connectivity. One defence corridor being created in the state. Earlier, there were just two airports. Now 12 airports are being made: PM
Prayagraj airport terminal was constructed in record time. Kushinagar airport will be an international airport. Work on Jevar airport is underway near Noida: PM
Modern connectivity is a boon to farmers. In the last few years, modern roads, cold storage and other facilities were given to farmers. Rs 1 lakh crore farmers' fund was created. These will help farmers connect to big cities: PM
In Purvanchal, good infrastructure was constructed. In Varanasi, Cargo Centre was constructed. Farmers can now easily store fruits and vegetables: PM
Two varieties of mango are in high demand in the middle east and in London. Those are exported from Varanasi. There is now no need to package that from other cities anymore. Air connectivity has helped even the smallest farmer: PM
Government's efforts and modern infrastructure are helping the farmers. Two years back, black rice manufacturing was started here. A market was created. Black rice is sold at Rs 300/kg whereas normal ones at Rs 35-40/kg. It also has a foreign market. 1,000 families are now cultivating black rice: PM
Farmers should get full profit from international markets. India's farm produces are famous across the world. This huge market and more money, shouldn't the farmers have this in their reach?: PM
If people think the old way is fine, how is the new law stopping that? The new laws have brought new steps. First, transactions made outside the mandis were illegal. Small farmers would be cheated this way because they couldn't even reach the mandis. Now even the smallest farmer can file case against any illegal trnasations outside the mandis. We are protecting him from fraud: PM
For some time, we are seeing a different trend. Earlier, there would be protests if people didn't like the new laws of the government. The new trend is to spread rumours about the future. "The decision seems correct but who knows what will happen going shead" - this is being spread. Rumours are spread about things that have not happened and things that won't happen. The same game is being played on farm laws. These are the same people who have tricked the farmers: PM
Very less purchases were made on Minimum Support Price. Announcemnets were made but no purchases. Big promises were made, but never reached the smaller farmers. Farmers were also tricked on loan waivers: PM
Farmers were tricked in the name of policies. Subsidies were given on fertiliser but this fertiliser reached the black markets more. Farmers were even tricked in the name of urea. They were asked to increase productivity but profits didn't reach them. Promises were made before elections and then the tricks went on for decades: PM
If farmers today have apprehensions about the new laws it's because of this histroy of fraud. The people who broke promises and committed these frauds are now spread lies. This is their habit. Because this is what they did. If you see our government's track record, you will see the truth: PM
We said will stop black marketing of urea. After six years, there is no shortage of urea. First there would be long lines for urea. Farmers would be lathicharged. Now all that has stopped. We ensured urea reached the farmers even during the coronavirus-induced lockdown: PM
We promised 1.5 times increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and we fulfilled it. We have ensured that money reached the farmers' accounts. Before 2014, in the five years of UPA, pulses worth Rs 650 crore were bought from farmers in the country. In our five years, we purchased Rs 49,000 crore pulses on MSP. That is a 75% increase: PM
The previous government bought grains worth Rs 2 lakh crores on MSP. We spent Rs 5 lakh crores to buy grain on MSP. 2.5 times' money reached the farmers. If we wanted to remove the mandis and MSP, why would we invest so much in this. We are trying to strengthen the Mandis: PM
Over 10 crore farmers are being helped directly. We have transferred Rs 1 lakh crores to farmer accounts. We had promised pension policy for farmers. And in a very short time, 21 lakh farmer families have benefited: PM
I understand that the fraud continuing for decades is scaring farmers. It's not their fault, I understand. But now, they won't be tricked. We are working with absolute honesty: PM