Buying Amul products not against state: Nirmala Sitharaman

BENGALURU: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, said buying Amul products or products of any other brand is not against Karnataka.

She was speaking at an interactive session with citizens at RV Dental College on Sunday in Bengaluru, organised by the Thinkers Forum. On the Nandini and Amul issue, Nirmala said buying Amul in the absence of Nandini is not an act against Karnataka. “Every state has its own milk cooperative.

Karnataka has Nandini, which is recognisable. Even now, I have Nandini milk, curds and peda. But when I travel and am in Delhi, I buy Amul. In the nearest outlet, if Nandini is not available, I’m not like a sanyasi to say I will not drink milk. I would still buy Amul. But it is required that we support Karnataka’s milk farmers, especially as they are small farmers, owning one or two cows who supply to the Karnataka Milk Federation,” she said.

She praised ex-CM BS Yediyurappa, crediting him for starting the trend of providing additional money to dairy far­mers for milk provided. “Every step must be taken to support the farmers. Not just by any one government, but I think Yediyurappa’s government should be given the credit for having given it for the first ever time.

All need to support dairy farmers: Nirmala

After this, subsequent governments of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) also gave additional amounts to farmers. Support for milk farmers should be continued. Strengthening Nandini and strengthening dairy farmers of Karnataka has never been in question, she said.

Veering on to financial issues, she said, “There are apps that promise many things, many of which are Ponzi schemes. The Reserve Bank of India and all other relevant departments are clamping down on them like never before so that we don’t have those Ponzi apps taking away people’s hard-earned money. Social and financial influencers are out there, but a very strong sense of caution is required,” she warned.

Nirmala faces ire of citizens
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman faced the ire of citizens on Sunday over her interactive session as they alleged that she and the organisers did not take any questions directly from them. As per schedule, she was to participate in the interactive session organised by the Thinkers Forum at RV Dental College in the City.

While the session was advertised as interactive, questions had been collected beforehand and screened before the minister. The most commonly asked questions were read out to the minister by a moderator. Over 600 questions were sent in advance to the organisers of the event by Bengalureans. However, citizens present at the session were not given the opportunity to interact with the minister directly, drawing their criticism. Many netizens also took to social media to criticise the organisers and the minister.