PM in poll mode again; targets rural community, reveals plans to determine MSP

 By CTW

It may seem like an exaggeration but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the poll mode, again. In his 42^nd episode of his ‘Mann ki baat’ the PM addressed the nation as usual but his main target audience were rural and farming community this time. Addressing the nation he has not only addressed the farming community, the largest community of the country but also revealed the prospective plan to decide the ‘Minimum Support Price’ for agricultural produces. This was probably first time that the PM has openly spoken about the exact idea of MSP. He also spoke about various agriculture-related issues at length during his address.

“It has been decided that the MSP of notified crops will be fixed at least one and a half times of their cost. If I may elaborate on this, MSP will include labour  cost of other workers employed, expenses incurred on own animals and cost of animals and machinery taken on rent, cost of seeds, cost of each type of fertilizer used, irrigation cost, land revenue paid to the State Government, interest paid on working capital, ground rent in case of leased land and not only this but also the cost of labour of the farmer himself or any other person of his family who contributes his or her labour in agricultural work will also be added to the cost of production. Moreover, an extensive exercise on agricultural reforms is being undertaken across the country in order to ensure that our farmers get a fair price for their crop”, the PM said.

This was the first radio address by the PM after the decisive poll results of Rajya Sabha elections that gave BJP a clear edge in the upper house of the Parliament. Extending the greeting of the RamNavami to the people the PM preferred to speak about the feedback first and later on he came on the subsequent issues like water problem, issues related to farming and education, health and others. But the issue related to the farming community remained core issue for the PM this time. He also referred a large number of letters received from the children talking about several issues including water crisis. The PM also talked about the preparations about International Yoga Day and 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and greeted people for Mahavir Jayanti and Vaishakhi too. Praising the role of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar in building of Modern India, the PM exhorted people to join the celebration of Dr. Ambedkar’s anniversary.

 “On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar from April 14 to May 5 ‘Gram-Swaraj Abhiyan,’ is being organized. Under the aegis of this campaign, separate programmes on village development, poverty amelioration and social justice will be held throughout India. I urge you all to be a part of this campaign”, the PM said. However, the Prime Minister preferred to stay away from making any kind of comment on the ongoing debate on facebook or Aadhar data and its security related issues, during his address, showing his clear strategy to address the rural and semi-urban people and not the high tech community, targeted by leaders of other parties.