Apart from the Congress, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on MSP for crops by giving due representation to his state…reports Asian Lite News
The All India Kisan Congress Chairman Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Sunday expressed serious concern at the plight of farmers in the country and demanded Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee for farmers.
To press this demand, Khaira announced to undertake a country-wide tour soon to meet farmers in different states to understand their problems.
He demanded that the Centre must guarantee MSP for all crops and stop favouring the corporate sector at the cost of farmers and farm workers.
The Central government had already constituted a committee that will work to make the MSP more effective and transparent.
Apart from MSP, the committee will also promote a zero budget-based farming and changing crop patterns, keeping in mind the changing needs of the country.
Zero budget natural farming means raising crops without using any fertiliser and pesticide or any other external materials. The word ‘zero budget’ refers to zero cost of production of all crops.
The committee, which will be headed by former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, will consist of representatives from the Centre and state governments, farmers, agricultural scientists and economists.
Apart from the Congress, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on MSP for crops by giving due representation to his state.
In a letter marked to the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Mann said, “It is ironical that the state which has most successfully implemented MSP since the initiation of this scheme has been kept out the committee.”
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops by giving due representation to Punjab.
In a letter marked to the Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, Mann said, “It is ironical that the state which has most successfully implemented MSP since the initiation of this scheme has been kept out the committee.”
The Chief Minister said the Union government recently constituted the committee regarding MSP under the chairmanship of former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal.
Mann said that in this committee, several experts and senior officials from various states have been included as members, but none from Punjab.
Apprising Modi, Mann said that Punjab had played a vital role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains by contributing about 35-40 per cent of wheat and 25-30 per cent of rice to the central pool in the last one decade.
He said it is worth mentioning that 60-62 million tonnes of wheat and rice, most of which are produced by the hard working farmers of the state, are distributed every year to about 800 million people of the country at highly subsidised rates under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
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