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Unveils 64-foot statue of Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, credited with working for the uplift of farmers Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government had fulfilled the long-pending demand of farmers by considerably increasing the Minimum Support Price of around two dozen crops recently and was working towards ensuring 50% profit for them over input cost. Mr. Modi was speaking at a public meeting in Garhi-Sampla here to unveil the 64-foot-tall statue of Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, a prominent politician in British India’s Punjab Province credited with working for the uplift of the farming community. Mr. Modi also laid the foundation stone of a rail coach refurbishment factory to be set up in Sonepat. The statue has been built by sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, a Padma Bhushan recipient. Around 5,000 farmers of the State donated iron for the statue. Mr. Modi said his government had also worked for the welfare of the farmers like Sir Chhotu Ram and ensured the right price for their produce, protection against crop damage, adequate supply of fertilizers and good health for the soil. The unveiling of the statue, the tallest in Haryana, is being seen as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to woo the majority Jat community, which feels alienated over the reservation issue. The Prime Minister said efforts were on to supply irrigation water to places where it had not reached for the past 30-40 years. Mr. Modi said a scheme was also initiated to compensate the farmers who had failed to get the MSP for their crops. Ayushman Bharat, a healthcare scheme, he said, was also introduced so that the farmers do not end up spending their income on hospital bills. He said that in less than two weeks’ time since the scheme was initiated, more than 50,000 people had availed its benefit. The rail coach factory is to be set up at a cost of around Rs. 600 crore.
