Defending the farmer society, Congress member Uttam Kumar Reddy pitched to the government to reduce the GST to zero on fertilizers and other agricultural machine markets.
Uttam Reddy says, the GST rates on the cost of fertilizers and agricultural machinery should either be ‘Zero’ or on the lowest GST slabs.
Proclaiming the circumstances of the farmer society, in a debate in the Lok Sabha, Reddy clearly pointed towards demands for grants of the Ministry of Rural Development & Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. In his argument, he said, the government has a goal of enlarging farmer’s income to twice the prevailing digits by 2022 but they must also notice that how much the income of the farmer has increased in the last three years.
Reddy in his debate asked whether BJP sarkar who is planning since 2016 to double the income of the farmers by 2022 has any records of the last three years progress of the farmers.
Farmers are paying high on farming inputs said, Reddy. His intentions were highly admired by BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab who was an attendant in the same Lok Sabha meet. Bhartruhari asked why the GST on fertilizers and agricultural machinery should not be zero.
Reddy further proposed that the agricultural inputs should be ‘GST Exempted’ or brought to the lowest ‘Tax Slabs’.
With this pace, the government cannot achieve its targets. Pointing towards the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana he said that it is not working and the process of agricultural development is very slow. The income of the farmers can only be doubled with high agricultural growth rates, he stated.