Govt deceiving farmers in name of Minimum Support Price: Congress
Govt deceiving farmers in name of Minimum Support Price: Congress
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday accused the Central govt of deceiving farmers across the country in the name of the Minimum Support Price (MSP), saying that the MSP does not even cover the input costs and most of the crops are not being purchased at MSP.
'The MSP has become the maximum suffering for the producers,' remarked party general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing a press conference at the party office in Delhi.
Meanwhile, citing Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar remarks seeking greater involvement of farmers in the country's economic development, Congress said the Modi govt should take Dhankhar's views seriously and lamented that he is ignored whenever he raises concerns about the farming community.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said, 'The Vice President's wise words on Viksit Bharat are very timely and appropriate. He should be listened to seriously by those throwing out slogans and filmi dialogues thinking that theatrics is governance.' "Sadly, he continues to be ignored when he raises concerns of farmers - which he himself is," Ramesh said.
His remarks came in the backdrop of Dhankhar saying, "Today, when we talk about Viksit Bharat, it doesn't mean what the rank of our economy is.
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To define Viksit Bharat and make it a ground reality, the income of everyone needs to be increased by eight times." The Vice President was speaking to reporters after paying homage to former prime minister Charan Singh on his death anniversary.
"This will happen but the farmers need to be farsighted. Today, our farmers are limited only to production. It is my request to farmer brothers that this is the time to increase their involvement in the country's biggest trade which is related to agriculture or animal husbandry," he added.
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.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference on Thursday, general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala referring to the MSP on paddy announced by the Centre claimed that it was Rs 766 less than the input costs. He said while the input cost of the paddy per quintal was Rs 3,135, the government had announced only Rs 2,369 MSP for the paddy.
Surjewala said that the marginal increase in MSP by the government is less than the inflation rate. He said that farmers' costs are rising due to the increase in prices of diesel, electricity, seeds and fertilisers, but the government is not even covering their basic expenses.
He also referred to the reduction of Rs 24,000 crore in fertiliser subsidy by the govt. Besides, he added that the government does not purchase all the crops for which it has announced the MSP.
'What is the point of announcing the MSP when there is no purchase?' he asked.
The Congress general secretary said that the Parliament's Standing Committee on Agriculture had recommended the MSP guarantee law and removal of GST on agricultural products, but the government trashed that report. He also accused the government of not spending Rs three lakh crore allocated for farming schemes.
To assert his point, Surjewala alleged that the govt was merely announcing the MSP but not actually purchasing the crops, he gave details of the quantity of various crops produced versus those procured by the government. For instance, he alleged that 16 lakh 53 thousand tons of barley was produced, but nothing was purchased at MSP. 'Sorghum production was 47 lakh 37 thousand tons, purchase was 3 lakh 23 thousand tons only.
Similarly, production of maize was 376 lakh 65 thousand tons, purchase was only five thousand tons,' he alleged.
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