New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Saturday alleged the UPA government easily comes under international pressure and takes policy decisions in agricultural sector, including import and export, which adversely affects the farmers.
Speaking at a BJP "Farmers' Parliament" here, Jaitley claimed while the erstwhile NDA government had not buckled under the pressure of developed countries, the UPA government "easily comes under international pressure".
He maintained India needs to take a firm stand in the international fora after the Doha round of talks on agriculture and trade.
The BJP leader maintained while European countries and the US give subsidies of nearly USD 400 million to their farmers for exporting their crops at less prices, crop holiday and the like, this was not the case with India.
Jaitley said the economic situation in the country today is almost similar to the pre-1991 period before liberalisation was brought in.
"60 per cent of the people in India are engaged in agriculture. Most of them are into small and subsistence farming. But the contribution of agriculture to the country's GDP is only 16-17 per cent. About 24-25 per cent of GDP comes from industry while 60 per cent comes from services sector," Jaitley said.
"This shows agriculture sector is the weakest," he added.
BJP insisted the number of farmers committing suicide has gone up as the farmers feel they are caught in a debt trap with prices of inputs like fertilisers and seeds going up while returns are not much.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 19:55