March 18, 2026
Pratima Mondal’s speech on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for 2026-27
ir, on behalf of All India Trinamool Congress, I rise to speak on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, 2026-27. “The future belongs to nations with grains and not guns.” These are the words of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s Green Revolution, who gave this nation food self-sufficiency, and then spent the rest of his life warning us not to squander it. I rise today to ask this Government, are you listening? Sir, this Government brought three anti-farmer laws and forced hundreds of thousands of farmers to sit on dharna at Delhi’s borders for over a year. What followed was the single largest protest in recorded human history, a fact acknowledged world over. Farmers braved freezing winters, scorching summers and raging pandemics. Many died from cold, and many died from heat. Some in despair took their own lives. Before the violence came the warning. The then Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni, addressed the protesting farmers with this word – ”सधर जाओ, नहं तो हम स ु धार द ु गंे, दो नमनट मं।” “Two minutes”, that is how this Government spoke to the farmers of India. What followed was not reform, it was a murder. On October 3rd, 2021 in Tikunia, Lakhimpur Kheri, farmers were walking peacefully on the road when a speeding Mahindra Thar, the first vehicle in the ministerial convoy, drove into them from behind. Before they could rise from the ground, the SUV and two other vehicles that followed, ran over the injured and fallen farmers. Gunshots were also fired. Eight people died in the violence. Four were farmers – Gurvinder Singh (19 years old), Lovepreet Singh (20 years old), Daljit Singh (35 years old), and Nachhattar Singh (65 years old). The fifth victim was journalist Raman Kashyap (28 years old). Ten more farmers were injured. I say these names not merely as a record. I say them because I went to their homes along with two Trinamool Congress, Rajya Sabha MP, Ms. Dola Sen and Shri Abir Biswas, under the leadership of our leader, Shrimati Mamata Banerjee. I visited each of those families. I stood before their bodies. I met their parents. I saw what grief looks like when the State has killed your child and called it an accident. Sir, the Minister who said he would reform farmers in two minutes remained in Cabinet for months after this massacre. Sir, his son, Ashish Mishra, the prime accused, is today on bail as per the orders of the Supreme Court. As of March, 2026, only 36 of 121 witnesses have been examined. The witnesses before the Supreme Court are being intimated. There is no conviction and accountability. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha called it free India’s Jallianwala Bagh Sir, the three farm laws were repealed on November 19, 2021, not out of conscience, but out of electoral calculation with Punjab and Uttar Pradesh polls approaching. The 702 families whose breadwinners never came home, these are more than arithmetic. I asked this House directly: how can this Government call itself farmer-friendly? They are not anti-nationals. They are not agitators. They are the people who feed this nation. This Government did not reform the farmers. It killed them and the country knows it. Sir, this Government runs over 30 agriculture-related schemes, many of which the average farmer across the country has never heard of. The real question is: what is the outcome of these schemes? The Department of Agriculture Research and Education received just Rs. 9,941 crore in Budget 2024-2025. It is only eight per cent of the Agriculture Ministry’s total allocation. India’s agriculture research intensity has fallen from 0.75 per cent of agri-GDP in 2008-2009 to just 0.43 per cent today. The Government’s own Economic Survey in 2024 tells us that every rupee invested in agricultural research returns Rs. 13.85. Yet this Government keeps pouring money into fertiliser subsidies instead of knowledge and science. Sir, Swaminathan Sir said explicitly, “revolution cannot be brought in by scientists, only kisan can take this message forward”. Kisans need institutions, investment and knowledge to do so. In West Bengal, there is no central agricultural university. The Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya is one of the vital agricultural institutions in Eastern India. Sir, we demand that Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya be granted central agricultural university status with commensurate national funding. The Krishi Vigyan Kendras, which are the last-mile connectors between science and field, be properly funded. Sir, this Government speaks about a self-reliant India and then imports over 60 per cent of its edible oil needs – 16.4 million tonnes worth 20.8 billion dollar in 2024-2025. Pulse imports hit a record 5.5 billion dollar in the same year. The ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have already disrupted supply chains, increased fertiliser and fuel prices and created uncertainty in the global food market. Similarly, the return of Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies has once again raised the risk of tariff disputes and certain restrictions on agricultural exports. Sir, I would like to know from the hon. Minister that how does the Government justify reducing the allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from Rs. 12,267 crore to Rs. 12,200 crore when actual expenditure in 2024-2025 was Rs. 14,473 crore and crop damage has surged to 94.7 lakh hectares in 2025, reflecting a 400 per cent rise since 2020-2022. Sir, West Bengal’s Krishak Bandhu Scheme, launched before PMKISAN, provides up to Rs. 10,000 per acre per year with proportional support for marginal farmers and critically Rs. 2 lakh to the family of any farmer who dies between the age of 18 and 60. West Bengal introduced a better model first and has been rewarded with delayed and politicised fund rate transfers. We object not to being imitated; we object to being denied. Sir, 75 of India’s 104 jute mills are in Bengal, yet in 2020 for 25 only 6.24 lakh of 70 lakh bales produced were procured at MSP, less than nine per cent. The mandatory jute packaging directives are flouted. Sugar industry compliance was just seven per cent GST taxes jute at 12 per cent while plastic seeds at five per cent, a policy that incentivises ecological harm. We demand MSP enforcement, mandatory packaging compliance and GST parity. Sir, Mallick Ghat in Kolkata is one of the Asia’s largest flower markets since 1855 with over 22,000 vendors and international export reaching Amsterdam, Dubai and beyond. There is no national export infrastructure, no cold chain investment, and no dedicated research. India holds less than 0.31 per cent of the global cut flower export market. We demand a national floriculture export hub at Mallick Ghat and a directorate of floriculture research under ICAR. Decades of indiscriminate chemical fertiliser use has degraded our soil, disrupted the NPK balance, depleted groundwater and caused documented public health crisis in agricultural districts. Biofertiliser receives negligible support. The Sundarbans, one of the world’s richest ecosystems, must be declared a chemical-free zone and a national pilot for sustainable natural fertiliser-based agriculture should be started. The West Bengal Government, without Central support, built a world-class apiculture model in the Sundarbans, managed and protected apiarists, the Maulis, who previously risked their lives from tiger attacks for harvesting wild honey. As a result, Sundarini Naturals, a GI-tag product, is now on national retail shelves. This model deserves national recognition and replication. The Centre has contributed nothing. Sir, when Cyclone Amphan struck on 20th May, 2020, causing Rs. 1 lakh crore of damage, destroying 2.9 million houses and 1.7 million hectares of cropland, the Sundarbans lost over 28 per cent of its forest cover in a single event. The Central Government response was an immediate relief package of Rs. 1,000 crore, less than one per cent of the damage. At that time, the Centre already owed Bengal Rs. 12,623 crore. For tax devolution, Amphan was never declared a national disaster. Bengal farmers are still waiting. Swaminathan ji said, “If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right”. The farmer is the foundation of this republic, and foundations, when neglected, do not simply weaken, they lead to collapse. We demand sustained research and development investment, Central University status for Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, a Directorate of Floriculture Research under ICAR, proper Amphan compensation, national support for the Sundarban apiculture model, justice for jute workers, accountability for Lakhimpur Kheri, and a statutory MSP guarantee. This Government has a choice: Honour India’s farmers or answer to history. Sir, today, the Opposition’s voice is ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan’.
