Rahul Gandhi says farmers be allowed to harvest crops while maintaining safety

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday called for giving relief to farmers during the COVID-19 lockdown by allowing them to harvest crops while maintaining safety, saying this is theonly way out as they are facing a double whammy.

"The Rabi crop stands ready in the fields but harvesting of the crop due to Covid19 lockdown is difficult. The livelihoods of hundreds of farmers are at risk," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

"Those farmers who feed the country are today in dual trouble. The only way out is to give relief to them in the lockdown while maintaining safety is to allow them harvesting," he said.

The Congress leader has earlier called for adopting a nuanced approach to tackle the situation in India, as the situation here is different from other nations.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown from March 24 to control the spread of coronavirus.