Participating in the debate on demands for grants for the Agriculture Ministry, Rewati Raman Singh of the Samajwadi Party said farmers in Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka were committing suicide despite the loan waiver announced by the Centre.
He claimed children of farmers were not ready to take up the profession and were ready to work as peons. Singh said while 58 per cent of country's population was involved in agriculture and related activities, the government has neglected the farmers.
He said in the absence of cold storage facilities, 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables were getting damaged. The SP member suggested that the government should set up bio-fertiliser plants in both public and private sector to help farmers get sufficient fertilisers.
He also demanded a 'white paper' on the condition of agriculture sector in the country.
Vijay Bahadur Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party lamented that while 62 per cent of the population was dependent on agriculture, the budgetary provisions were a mere one per cent.
"For 62 per cent people you provide only 1 per cent, and for the rest 38 per cent the allocation is 99 per cent," he added.
Singh alleged the Centre had not given due attention to Uttar Pradesh while setting up new power plants and blamed bureaucrats for not framing agriculture policies to benefit the farmers.
"The bureaucrats are only concerned with sensex, stock markets and five stars," he added.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh of the Janata Dal-United said farming was no more a profitable business and the youth today were leaving for cities in search of jobs.
He demanded that the notification from the Centre linking sugar and ethanol production in Bihar be scrapped immediately, as it affected the livelihood of the people involved in the sector.
JD-U chief Sharad Yadav wanted to know why the "anti-people" notification on ethanol was issued.
Sakthi Mohan Malik of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said 2 lakh farmers had committed suicide in the last two decades.
Bhartruhari Mahtab of the Biju Janarta Dal said the Budget speech of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee talked about Indian economy's resilience in the wake of the economic meltdown.
Stating that agriculture is still a gamble, he said about 400 irrigation projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore was still waiting to be completed.
H D Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal Secular said indebtedness of farmers was increasing day by day and demanded a comprehensive plan for revival and rejuvenation of agriculture in the country.
He also sought a one-time waiver of all the loans of farmers and plantation workers.
