Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar pays tribute to former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh on his death anniversary, in New Delhi, on May 29, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday (May 27, 2025) asserted that the income of people has to increase eightfold to define Viksit Bharat and urged farmers to look beyond agriculture and explore agro-based products to increase their income.

Talking to reporters after paying tributes to former Prime Minister Charan Singh on his death anniversary in New Delhi, the Vice-President said Viksit Bharat, “or a developed India, does not refer to the rank of the nation’s economy in the world.”

He felt that to define Viksit Bharat and make it a ground reality, people’s income has to increase eightfold. He expressed confidence that such a development will certainly happen, provided farmers are far-sighted. Mr. Dhankhar said, “farmers make a lot of effort in cultivating and harvesting crops, but beyond that their role is negligible.”

He also called on farmers to increase their participation in the animal husbandry and agro-based industry. Mr. Dhankhar highlighted that the entire food-processing industry is based on farm produce and that farmers need to be part of the value addition based on their produce.