Increase limit of MSP procurement for crops to 50 pc: Gehlot to Centre

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday urged the Centre to increase the limit of minimum support price (MSP) procurement for crops from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. In a series of tweet, Gehlot said the hike in MSP as announced by the central government is insignificant in the wake of the hardships being faced by the farmers.

"Hike in MSP announced by Govt is totally insignificant looking at hardships faced by our farmers, who have been hit hard by not only corona but sliding economy, locust attacks, cyclone, etc. Farmers have been desperately waiting to get concrete relief but their hopes have been dashed," he said. The Centre on Monday had raised the MSP of paddy marginally by Rs 53 per quintal to Rs 1,868 per quintal for the 2020-21 crop year, while the rates for oilseeds, pulses and cereals were hiked substantially.

Among commercial crops, the MSP of cotton was increased by Rs 260 per quintal to Rs 5,515 for medium staple variety, and by Rs 275 per quintal to Rs 5,825 for long staple variety of cotton for the current crop year (July-June). If the government really wants to help the "annadata" (farmers), Gehlot said, it should increase the limit of MSP procurement from 25 per cent of the crop produce to at least 50 per cent under the Price Stabilization Scheme and fix the MSP as recommended in the Swaminathan report.

The chief minister said that the raised MSP is a paltry amount, which does not even cover the farmers' input costs. "The increase is just 2.07 per cent  for moong and 7.5 per cent for bajra, which makes the tall promise of the government of India of doubling the farmers income by 2022 look like yet another 'jumla'," he said.

The state government will be distributing two months ration to migrants, which include 10 kg wheat (5 kg per person, per month) and 2 kg chickpeas per family. The state government has allocated 44,600 MT of wheat and 2,230 MT of gram for the month of May and June for the migrants, who are not covered under the National Food Security Scheme (NFSA). Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Chand Meena said the wheat allocated by the Centre will be distributed only to those migrants who are not covered under the NFSA.

The wheat will be distributed to migrants from fair price shops, he added..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)