MSP OF WHEAT: CM and SAD assail Centre for meager hike of Rs 65

Chandigarh, December 26, 2012: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today slammed the Centre for an inadequate hike of Rs 65 per quintal in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat thereby fixing it at Rs 1,350 and described it as a ‘stab in the back of the farming community’.

Out rightly rejecting the enhancement of MSP in wheat by just Rs 65, Badal demanded its immediate re-fixation  at least at Rs 1,800 per quintal saying that the Centre must have announced an increase of Rs 500 per quintal instead of this paltry sum of Rs 65, which was too little, too inadequate to compensate the dejected farmers. 

In a statement, the Chief Minister said that the non-remunerative MSP coupled with anti-farmer policies of Centre was primarily responsible for the slowdown of the agricultural growth.

Badal said that though his government had been constantly pleading the case of Punjab's beleaguered peasantry, which was in great distress and deep crisis, thereby demanding MSP of at least Rs 1,800 per quintal of wheat from the Government of India in line with the escalation of agricultural inputs.  He said that the factors like withdraw of subsidy on fertilisers and consequently nearly threefold hike in the cost of DAP fertilisers had put the farmers in quandary and therefore, it was obligatory on the part of the GoI to announce an adequate hike in the MSP of Wheat at Rs.1800 per quintal for the Rabi marketing season 2013-14 to make it commensurate with the increased agricultural inputs in terms of diesel, fertilisers and pesticides. 

Badal pointed out that it was a high time for the Centre to awake from deep slumber in order to fix the MSP by providing a margin of 50% over the cost of production to the farmers as suggested by an eminent agricultural economist Dr MS Swaminathan to ensure remunerative prices of their produce to the farmers. The Chief Minister lamented that it was a paradoxical situation that the MSP demanded by farming community was far below the price at which the country had been importing wheat from Australia in the past adding that there was hardly any justification to deprive the local producers of the same price. Cautioning the Centre to desist from implementing such anti-farming policies, the Chief Minister said that failing it the Union government would be solely responsible for the decay of agriculture thereby putting the food security of the country in peril because such decisions would leave the nation’s entire peasantry particularly that of Punjab in quandary.

The Chief Minister said that the UPA leaders owe an explanation to the farmers regarding the ever widening gulf between the costs of inputs and the MSP given to the farmers in their regime since 2004. He reiterated that denial of hike in MSP on Wheat was a testimony of Congress led UPA government’s complete insensitivity and apathy towards the plight of the depressed farming community which was already on the crossroads due to low returns on account of squeezed margins of profit. 

Badal asked the Centre to be loyal and fair to the farming community and shun politicking on the vital issues concerning the welfare of peasantry.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today out rightly rejected the MSP of wheat at Rs. 1350 per quintal for Rabi Marketing Season 2013-14, giving an meager increase of Rs. 65 per quintal over last year's MSP and described it as a cruel joke with the farming community already reeling under heavy debt.

In a statement released here today, Party President and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said that  Congress led UPA has again exposed its anti farmer face by denying the remunerative prices to the farmers that would have far reaching repercussions on the food security of the country. He said that one hand Congress led UPA government has permitted fertilizer companies to fix prices according to their own will, scrapped subsidy on fertilizers, raised the prices of all agriculture inputs including diesel and on other hand it was denying the minimum production price to the farmers.

He said that SAD had been pressurizing the union government to accept the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commisison linking the MSP of agriculture produce with the Whole Sale Price Index to neutralize the impact of inflation or to give 50 percent profit on the input cost of farmers but Congress led UPA government was playing in the hands of the multinational companies to discourage farmers so that import lobby could mint money.

Badal said that the scrapping the subsidy of fertilizer sector, decontrolling the price of diesel were a direct attack on the economy of farmers virtually freezing the MSP of wheat was back stabbing the farmers who were working day and night for the food security of the country. He said that on one hand farmers of Punjab were bleeding the soil of its precious resources of water and nutrients to fill the food kitty of nation, denying them remunerative price was cruel joke on debt ridden farming community of Punjab.

Questioning the criminal silence of Punjab Pradesh Congress party leaders on this crucial issue impacting the three fourth population of the state, Badal said that those threatening dharnas on every petty issue should stage dharna at PMO till Union government accepted the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission.

Sukhbir said that he along with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would soon call on Prime Minister to undo this injustice at the earliest.