Centre's wheat MSP hike 'pathetic', says Amarinder

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday dubbed the wheat MSP hike of Rs 40 per quintal by the Centre as "pathetic".

Singh slammed the Union government for "rubbing salt into the wounds" of farmers, who have been out on roads agitating against the Centre's farm laws for the past around 10 months.

The Centre on Wednesday hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by Rs 40 to Rs 2,015 per quintal and asserted that the system of procuring crops at support prices will continue.

At a time when the country's agriculture sector is passing through a "distress" phase and the farmers are agitating for a remunerative MSP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government played a "cruel joke" on the "annadaatas", said the CM in an official statement.

He demanded wheat MSP of Rs 2,830 per quintal. Singh said farmers should not be forced to subsidise the consumers, which they have been doing since long.

"It is time the government at the Centre heeds the problems of farmers and gives them their due," he said. The BJP-led government's continued "apathy" towards farmers had brought the farming sector, which has been one of the country's biggest economic strengths, to the "brink of disaster", he added.

"Why is the Centre treating our farmers so obnoxiously," he asked.

Terming the MSP for wheat at Rs 2,015 per quintal as "far below the expectations of farmers of Punjab," the CM said his government has suggested the MSP of Rs 2,830 a quintal depending on the cost of production of wheat in the state.

Pointing out that the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) estimates project an increase of 3.5 per cent only in the comprehensive cost of production (C2) over the last year, he said this does not even cover the inflation in cost of inputs.

The CM pointed out that the MSP for wheat has increased from Rs 1,975 per quintal for 2021-22 to Rs 2,015 per quintal for Rabi marketing season 2022-23, which is just 2 per cent increase over last year.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal rejected the "meagre" Rs 40 per quintal hike. He demanded an increase by at least Rs 150 per quintal to give a remunerative price to farmers for their produce.

He also sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's immediate intervention to ensure farmers were not short-changed. In a statement here, the SAD president said at a time when farmers across the country were aggrieved with the BJP-led NDA government for "failing" to respect their sentiments by repealing the three agriculture laws, the Centre had gone ahead and announced the "lowest" MSP hike in recent years.