{"id":3479,"date":"2015-04-30T16:40:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T11:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teekhapan.wordpress.com\/?p=3479"},"modified":"2015-04-30T16:40:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T11:10:50","slug":"rahul-gandhis-latest-jai-kisan-rhetoric-doesnt-quite-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivekkaul.com\/2015\/04\/30\/rahul-gandhis-latest-jai-kisan-rhetoric-doesnt-quite-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Rahul Gandhi’s latest jai kisan rhetoric doesn’t quite work"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is angry-and this anger is making him take ‘potshots’ at the Narendra Modi government almost every other day. Okay, I know it is politics. And I know that he is not angry. And I know that\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>he is trying to rediscover himself<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. And I know that he is trying to ensure that the party of his ancestors doesn’t become totally irrelevant in the days to come.
\nRahul’s latest jibe at the Modi government came yesterday when he said in Punjab: “Does the farmer not make in India?…Your government did nothing when hailstorms destroyed their crop?”
\nThis after he had told a farmers’ rally in New Delhi earlier this month that: “We[i.e. the Congress led UPA government] increased the MSP of wheat from Rs 540 to Rs 1400…The MSP has not changed, no benefit to farmers.”
\nThese statements are in line with the dole based politics and economics practised by the Congress party over the years. The trouble is the country has had to pay a huge cost for this. Allow me to explain.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\nThe MSP is the price at which the government buys rice and wheat from the farmers, through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state government agencies. The MSP of rice was increased rapidly by the Congress led UPA government starting in 2007.
\nBetween 2007 and 2014, the MSP of rice jumped up from Rs 580 per quintal to Rs 1310 per quintal, an increase of 12.34% per year. In case of wheat, the MSP started increasing from 2006 onwards. Between 2006 and 2014, the MSP of wheat jumped up from Rs 650 per quintal to Rs 1400 per quinta, an increase of around 10.1% per year.
\nThe Table 1 shows the buffer stocks and the strategic reserves that the FCI needs to maintain at various points of time during the course of the year.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n