Modi government rubs salt on farmers’ wounds with meagre MSP hike: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that the Narendra Modi government has rubbed salt on the farmers’ wounds with its meagre hike in MSP for paddy.

He argued that the nominal hike for paddy was grossly inadequate and an insult to the farmers who have been fighting for their rightful dues.

He slammed the anti-farmer Government at the Centre for consistently failing to protect the interests of the farmers and its apathy for their problems. The less than 4% hike in MSP of paddy was not enough even to meet the increased input costs, he pointed out, citing the extraordinary hikes in diesel and other costs over the past one year.

Singh added that the increase in MSP of other crops was also quite measly and pointed out that the small hike in the base price of maize would discourage farmers from going for the much-needed crop diversification to save the precious and depleting water resource.

The Chief Minister noted that the Swaminathan Committee, whose recommendations the central government has adamantly refused to accept, had clearly suggested that MSP should be “at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production”. Far from implementing the recommendations of the Committee in the interests of the farmers and the nation’s food security, the BJP-led government passed the new farm laws that are anti-farmer and would destroy India’s farmers.

The CM said that it was not enough for the Union Agriculture Minister to say that the doors for talks with farmers were open. The Government of India should repeal the farm laws and then sit down with the farmers to come up with genuine and meaningful reforms in agriculture in the interest of the agricultural community and the entire nation, he asserted.

Amarinder Singh warned that such apathetic attitude towards the farmers, who had ensured that agriculture remained the biggest revenue earner for the government even amid the pandemic, would be detrimental to the long-term interests of the country. “It could push India back into the pre-Green Revolution era, forcing us once again to pick up the begging bowl to meet the food related needs of our people,” he added.