New Delhi, 12 May (H.S.): The Congress has accused the central government of failing to manage the urea crisis, pointing out that existing stocks meet only 51 per cent of the 390.54 lakh metric tonne fertiliser requirement for the ongoing kharif season. The party said that the government’s flagship PM‑PRANAM scheme has proved ineffective even after three years of its launch.

Congress Media Department chief Pawan Khera said in an X post on Tuesday that under the PM‑PRANAM scheme, launched by the central government in 2023, no state or Union Territory has so far received even a single instalment of incentive money. As a result, there has been no tangible progress, and farmers continue to remain dependent on imported chemical fertilisers.

Khera questioned the feasibility of the Prime Minister’s appeal to farmers to reduce chemical fertiliser use by 50 per cent. “It is not practical to ask farmers to suddenly cut their land‑use or shift overnight to alternative systems, especially when the government has starved its own scheme of funds and institutional support,” he said.

The Congress leader added that real change demands a clear plan, sustained investment, scientific collaboration, and institutional commitment, but the government has limited its efforts largely to media and PR campaigns.

“Farmers constitute 46.1 per cent of India’s workforce and contribute about 18 per cent to agricultural gross domestic product. If the government is not serious about this crucial segment, it raises the question of whom these schemes are actually being framed for,” he said.

It is noteworthy that on May 10, the Prime Minister, addressing a programme in Hyderabad, appealed to citizens to save petrol and diesel, postpone foreign travel, reduce gold purchases, and promote the use of indigenous products against the backdrop of the West Asia war and global supply‑chain disruptions. He said that fuel and fertiliser prices worldwide have surged many fold due to the ongoing conflict and supply‑chain crisis, and that the central government is continuously striving to limit the burden on citizens, even as people too must now take their responsibilities seriously.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar