State leaders ridicule wheat MSP hike

Friday, 31/10/2014

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141031/punjab.htm#4

Chandigarh : Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said Rs 1,450 per quintal MSP of wheat could not even cover the input costs of the farmers. He said the MSP must be hiked to enable the farmers get a remunerative price for their produce.

Badal advocated the need for adopting and aggressively implementing pro-agriculture and pro-farmer policies. He said the Swaminathan formula for fixing the MSP should be implemented, according to which the farmers should get an MSP equivalent to input costs plus 50 per cent profit.

He said considering the market conditions and the price index in the country, the MSP was inadequate. He said the new government at the Centre had to reverse the “anti-farmer” and “anti-poor” policies of the UPA.

“It is necessary for the NDA Government to undo the crippling effects of the UPA’s policies. Hiking the MSP beyond Rs 50 per quintal would be the first step in this direction,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said Rs 50 increase in the wheat MSP was not commensurate with the increase in cost of inputs. It should thus be revised to protect the interests of the farming community, he said.

The SAD demanded that the MSP be enhanced by at least Rs 150 per quintal. The Deputy CM said the SAD had always supported the recommendations of the Dr Swaminathan Commission.

“More and more farmers are getting into debt trap as agriculture is no longer a profitable venture. Only a reasonable and consistent increase in the MSP can save the rural economy,” he said.

The Badals were yesterday criticised by leaders of opposition parties for not speaking on the matter.

Punjab Pradesh Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa said the BJP had “cheated” the farming community by not implementing the Swaminathan committee report, as was promised by it in its poll manifesto. Badal should lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister on the matter, he said.

BKU leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said the increase in the MSP was slightly more than 3 per cent which had not even neutralised the effect of inflation. Keeping this in view, there had been no increase in the MSP, he said.

People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal described the Rs 50 hike in the MSP too meagre. He said this exposed the hollow promises made by the ruling SAD to the people before the Lok Sabha poll. Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal criticised the Agriculture Department for cutting down subsidy to farmers. Jakhar said the Centre had decided to grant a subsidy of Rs 1,000 per quintal on seed to the farmers under the National Food Security Mission, but the state was only passing on Rs 700 per quintal to the farmers.

The wheat MSP of Rs 1,450 per quintal will not even cover the input costs of the farmers. - Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister

The MSP must be enhanced by at least Rs 150. More and more farmers are getting into debt trap.- Sukhbir Singh Badal, Dy Chief Minister

The BJP has cheated the farmers by not implementing Swaminathan report, as promised by it in its poll manifesto.-Partap Singh Bajwa, ppcc president

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