Bengaluru, 30 Oct (H.S.): Karnataka IT and Rural Development Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday defended the Cabinet’s decision to increase milk prices by Rs 8 a litre from November 1, saying the revision would primarily benefit dairy farmers struggling with rising production costs.

Responding to opposition criticism, Kharge said Rs 7 of the increase would go directly to farmers to help meet higher expenditure on cattle feed and maintenance. He maintained that Nandini milk would remain cheaper than milk sold in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra even after the revision.

The minister blamed the Centre’s economic policies for the broader increase in living costs, arguing that the state government could not be held responsible for inflation across the country.

Invoking the BJP’s 2014 election slogan promising relief from rising prices under a Modi government, Kharge asked whether inflation had declined since the party assumed power.

He argued that national economic policies and fuel taxation influenced household expenditure, while prices of food, grains, spices and other essentials had steadily increased over the past decade.

Kharge also accused the BJP of adopting double standards, saying its supporters justified tax and price increases by the Centre as measures serving national interests but opposed similar decisions taken by Karnataka.

Acknowledging that the milk price revision could inconvenience consumers, he insisted that supporting farmers was its central objective.

“We are doing this for farmers and the people of Karnataka,” he said, attributing the wider price rise to what he termed “Modinomics”, rather than D.K. Shivakumar.

The Cabinet decision, announced by Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, follows a reported decline of approximately 10 lakh litres in milk production amid drought conditions in the state.

According to the account accompanying the announcement, legislators across party lines had sought assistance for dairy farmers facing mounting costs and difficulties sustaining their livelihoods.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman