Through a draft resolution on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation presented at the plenary session of the AICC here on Saturday, the Congress expressed deep concern over the “unprecedented and severest” agrarian crisis staring the country today.

The party accused the “flawed and deliberate anti-farmer policies” of the present NDA government for the poor state of farmers in the country. “The farmers today face mounting indebtedness, non-remunerative prices for their crops, increasing cost of production and declining agricultural credit, forcing many farmers to commit suicide,” the draft resolution, moved by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, said.

It said the Congress resolves to bring in a farmer centric paradigm shift in the Indian agriculture and restore profitability to farming. “The Indian National Congress would bring a loan waiver scheme for all small and marginal farmers in the country on the pattern of the farm loan waiver programme of the UPA government in 2009 benefitting 3.2 crore farmers. The party intends to provide interest free loans to cover input costs to tenant farmers, sharecroppers and farmers owning and cultivating upto two hectares of land as done by congress governments in Haryana and Rajasthan,” the resolution added.

The resolution also noted that the rising levels of income inequality is a direct result of the anti-poor policies of the government. “The BJP had promised  Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas . But has acted contrary to their slogan. The wealth of the richest 1% has gone up by 73% while the wealth of the bottom half of the population has grown by just 1% during the BJP regime. More than hundred Indians died standing in queues following demonetisation, which was supposed to bring back black money but ended up destroying the informal sector of the economy,” it added.

“The party shall create a National Poverty Alleviation Fund and would impose a 5% cess on the incomes of the top 1% richest Indians. This would be used directly to give education scholarships to the children from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other BPL families,” it added.

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