Centre hits out at Bihar CM over farmers' welfare slur

Hitting out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not implementing schemes sanctioned by the Centre, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has alleged that Bihar government has not rolled out the schemes meant for the welfare of farmers and growth of the agriculture sector in the state.

"What surprises me most is that on the one hand, Kumar is worried about Prime Minister's plan to augment farmers' income, while on the other hand, he is not implementing schemes of the Centre meant for farmer's welfare. Whenever the Bihar CM is being questioned about it, he deliberately changes the topic," Singh said.

Asking Kumar to furnish the reasons for the delay in implementing Centre-sponsored schemes, Singh said, "Kumar must inform the people that the Centre had granted Rs 35 crore and Rs 10 crore 2014-15 and 2016-17 respectively to the state, but the state failed to spend Rs 31.71 crore till the end of the year 2016-17. Not only this, the state was allocated Rs 18.60 crore in 2015-16 under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana, but its the apathy of Bihar government towards farmers that the state could not even spend Rs 10.8."

"The hard facts clearly reveal how worried is Kumar about the welfare of farmers. Kumar talks like Mahatma Gandhi but acts like Rahul Gandhi. Farmers are under great distress under Kumar's regime in Bihar as on the one hand he talks about enhancing farmers' income, on the other hand Kumar ignores the soil health card scheme," Singh said.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister is going to China to take part in the seventh meeting of BRICS agriculture ministers starting from June 15. Singh will be in China for two days and make field visits to get first hand experience of latest agricultural techniques.