BJPKM burns effigy of Union governmnt

In its protest against low like in paddy MSP

Raipur, June 11, 2011

The members of BJP Kisan Morcha (BJPKM) led by their district president (Raipur city) Ramesh Yadu burnt an effigy of the Union government protesting low hike in minimum support price (MSP) of paddy at dharna spot near Sports Complex Budhapara on Saturday.

Slamming the Centre for announcing a meager hike of Rs 80 per quintal in the MSP of paddy, Yadu said, “The slight rise in Paddy MSP is not apt for the farmers of the state. The hike is very less in comparison with the boom in the prices of diesel, fertilisers and pesticides. Besides, the farmers are unable to buy the essential commodities owing to inflation then how can the Centre expect that they would have money to purchase farm-related items? In different states, the input cost of paddy ranges from Rs 1200-1450, so the increased MSP is unacceptable to the BJPKM.”

Yadu said if the Centre was really concerned about the farmers then it should have first consulted the agricultural experts before finalising the MSP.

“The farmers in the state are caught in debt-trap due to the anti-farmer policies of the Central government,” he said.

“We will not keep quiet. Our national leadership will mount pressure on the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to fix the MSP of paddy to Rs 1500 per quintal,” he added.

“It is really unfortunate that the UPA government did not even pay heed to the recommendations of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The committee recommended increase in the paddy MSP by Rs 160 per quintal.  The Union government has acknowledged that the cost of agricultural inputs has gone up by 64 percent and despite this it announced such an unrealistic hike,” he said.

On the occasion, Yadu was accompanied by BJPKM state president Sandeep Sharma, Khemraj Chandrakar, Viky Walia, Ajay Sahu, Kamlesh Shrivastava, Kishore Ambani, Arvind Agrawal and other BJPKM members.