New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday accused the government of not doing anything to protect the interests of farmers and exporters of Basmati rice, which it claimed was being grown illegally in Pakistan.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that for the last few years, Basmati rice farmers have been slapped with export duties and export bans.
This has caused a massive crash in rice exports and a loss in income for farmers, he said in a post on ‘X’.
“For the last ten years, the Modi Sarkar has been sleeping at the wheels or orchestrating disaster for our farmers,” Ramesh alleged.
“Now, protected Indian Basmati rice varieties are being illegally grown in Pakistan and sold on the global market. Unfortunately, the Modi Sarkar is doing nothing to protect the interests of our farmers, breeders, and exporters,” the Congress leader said.
“India’s kisaans, who spend good money on high-yielding seeds and fertilisers, are facing losses in every direction. First, they cannot sell their rice internationally. Then, their market share is taken by illegal foreign Basmati growers,” he claimed.
Since late September 2023, when the then agriculture minister was deputed to contest the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the agriculture ministry has been running on autopilot, Ramesh alleged.
“This is just the latest example of its consequences for the nation,” he said.
“The Congress Party’s revolutionary #KisaanNYAY guarantees promise a stable import-export policy that benefits farmers. After June 2024, India’s Basmati farmers will be able to grow and sell their rice with the confidence that the government is working for them,” he also said in a post.
The Congress leader was citing news reports that claimed that India’s ‘protected’ Basmati varieties were renamed and being cultivated in Pakistan and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has red-flagged the “illegal” cultivation.
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