Jaitley counters Manmohan Singh's criticism

Hours after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected the ruling government's claim of doubling farmers' income by 2022, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the former need not be "pessimistic".

"Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh need not be pessimistic about doubling rural incomes. If he compared the investment that the NDA government is making in the agriculture, rural and social sectors he will get the answer," he tweeted.

During the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Sunday, the former prime minister had criticised the Centre for its "culture of constant self-praise and jumlas" as against any solid policy framework.

He had also raised questions over the Centre's promise of doubling farmers' income by 2022, and said the Modi government's claim would require an agricultural growth rate of 14 per cent "which is nowhere in sight."

On a related note, the Union Cabinet on July 4 had approved the proposal made by Jaitley in this year's Union Budget for hiking the support price of Kharif crops by one-and-a-half times of the production cost.

In his Budget speech, Jaitley had announced that NITI Aayog, in consultation with the central and state governments, would put in place a mechanism to ensure farmers get benefits of the minimum support price.