Raise sugarcane prices, double PM Kisan fund: Varun Gandhi writes to UP CM

In a letter to the CM, Gandhi demanded a ‘substantial increase in sugarcane prices, bonus on wheat and paddy, doubling the amount of PM Kisan Yojana and subsidy on diesel’.

Gandhi, a three-time MP from UP, has been advocating for reconnecting with the protesting farmers to reach a common ground.

Tagging the letter on his Twitter handle, Gandhi said that he had written to Adityanath alluding to the problems of farmers. “I hope the issues of the sons of the earth will be heard,” he tweeted in Hindi.

In a two-page letter to Adityanath, the Pilibhit MP listed out all the problems and demands of the farmers as well as suggested solutions for the same.

In the letter, Gandhi suggested raising the selling price of sugarcane ₹Rs 400 per quintal which is fixed at present ₹315 per quintal in UP.

Sugarcane is mainly grown in western UP, which is the center of protests by farmers in the state against the Centre’s agricultural laws.

Farmers should be given additional bonus ₹Gandhi said in the letter that Rs 200 per quintal is more than the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat and paddy.

He also demanded that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme should be doubled. ₹12,000 per annum for farmers with contribution from the state government ₹6,000 from his own funds.

PM KISAN Yojana is an initiative of the center through which all the farmers will rise ₹6,000 per year as minimum income support.

Gandhi, sharing the concern of farmers of high prices of electricity and diesel, in a letter requested the Chief Minister of UP to give subsidy. ₹20 per liter on diesel to farmers and reduce the price of electricity with immediate effect.

Earlier on 5 September, when a large number of farmers had gathered in Muzaffarnagar for a mahapanchayat organized by the United Kisan Morcha against the three agricultural laws, Gandhi had said that the government should re-engage with them to access common land Because they are “our own flesh” and blood.”

“Millions of farmers have gathered in Muzaffarnagar today in protest. They are our own flesh and blood. We need to reconnect with them in a respectful way: understand their pain, their point of view and work with them to reach common ground. Do it,” Gandhi had tweeted by posting a video of a large crowd in attendance.

The mahapanchayat was held early next year ahead of the crucial UP assembly elections.

Recently, agricultural union leaders and Karnal district administration held another round of talks on Saturday.

On August 28, against the police lathi-charge, farmers started a sit-in outside the district headquarters in Karnal on Tuesday.

Farmers are protesting against three agriculture laws on the borders of the national capital.

Several rounds of discussions were also held between the representatives of the protesting farmers’ unions and the Union Ministers, but the talks were in vain.

The Center is insisting that the reforms have given farmers a new opportunity to sell their produce and rejected criticism that the laws are aimed at doing away with the MSP regime and agricultural markets.