Union govt to spend ₹1 lakh crore to boost agri infrastructure: MoS Kataria
He said that the new farm bills will not have any impact on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the existing mandi system in the country.
Union minister of state for Jal Shakti, Ratan Lal Kataria on Saturday accused the opposition parties of spreading false information about the three agriculture legislations passed by the Union government.
“These bills are historic and will bring major reforms in agriculture marketing by increasing the income of farmers but some opposition parties are spreading lies and misleading farmers for political advantage,” said Kataria in an interaction with media persons at Kurukshetra.
Kataria said that these bills will not have any impact on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the existing mandi system in the country. Kataria said the centre has decided to spend Rs 1 lakh crore to boost agriculture infrastructure and Rs 500 crore to improve the financial condition of farmers. He said that the MSP will continue as the government had paid Rs 7 lakh crore as MSP in the past six years.
Kataria, however, urged the farmers to adopt alternative crops as paddy is a water guzzling crop and the production of 1 kg of rice takes 3, 500 liters of water. “Farmers should take the advantage of the schemes initiated by the state government for crop diversification,” said Kataria.
Replying to a question on Hathras incident, the union minister said that the Uttar Pradesh police was working on the case and action was taken against officials for their negligence.
