Punjab's farmers say hike in MSP for paddy not enough to relieve debt, doesn't match Centre's promise

Chandigarh: Farmers’ organisations in Punjab on Wednesday claimed that the Rs 200 per quintal hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy does not match the claims of the BJP government at the Centre, which had promised to increase it to 1.5 times the cost of production.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) at its meeting on Wednesday approved the MSP of 14 Kharif (summer-sown) crops. MSP for paddy was hiked by Rs 200 per quintal.

After the hike, the MSP of paddy (common grade) was Rs 1,750 per quintal for the 2018-19 season and the support price of Grade A variety of paddy was Rs 1,770.

“The Rs 200 per quintal hike in paddy MSP is not enough to address the plight of debt-ridden farmers. It also does not go with the claims of the BJP government that had promised to hike MSP to 1.5 times the cost of production,” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) General Secretary, Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said.

He said that had the government properly followed the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report, it would have increased the paddy MSP to at least Rs 2,300 per quintal.

“The claim of the government that they raised the MSP to 1.5 times is a mere lie,” Kokrikalan said, adding that through this hike, the government had tried to win over the farmers in the wake of Lok Sabha polls next year.

“But farmers are intelligent enough and they will not fall for it,” he said.

Alleging that the BJP government at the Centre tried to fool the farmers, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said the MSP hike was not going to meet the expectations of farmers, whose financial condition was already poor.

BKU (Mann) President Bhupinder Singh Mann, said, “The way the cost of farm production has increased, this hike will not be able to meet the expenses of growers.”