Farmers suffered 'huge losses' due to unpredictable import-export policies of Modi govt: Cong

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday claimed that farmers have suffered huge losses due to "unpredictable" import-export policies of the Modi government and asserted that under an INDIA bloc government such policies would be decided only after consultations with farmers and their organisations.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Congress has given five guarantees to the farmers legal guarantee for Minimum Support Prices (MSP), loan waiver, transforming PM Fasal Bima Yojana, new import-export policy and making farmers GST-free.

"On import-export policy, I want to say that we need to put restrictions on imports and encourage exports. We ban exports repeatedly like the ban on export of rice is not in favour of the farmers in Punjab and it is benefitting the farmers of Pakistan," Ramesh said in a video statement on X.

The Congress has given a guarantee that the import-export policy will be decided upon only after consultations with farmers and their organisations, the Congress general secretary said, adding imports and exports should be beneficial for formers not traders.

In his post on X along with the video statement, Ramesh said farmers have suffered huge losses due to the "unpredictable" import-export policies of the Modi government.

"The Congress has guaranteed that we will make a concrete law on import and export of agricultural products which will support farmers and farmer organisations and increase their income," he said.

The Congress' Lok Sabha polls manifesto has stated that it will formulate and implement a sound import-export policy for agricultural commodities, which will give paramount importance to protecting the interests and concerns of farmers.