Raipur, June 10, 2011
The state Congress has hailed UPA-led Union government for increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy by Rs 80. “This step would definitely boost the sagging morale of the farmers across the country. The bonus of Rs 50 on the current paddy crop and also the increase in MSP of other crops by the UPA government would go a long way to solve the agrarian crises throughout the country,” said the PCC president Nandkumar Patel, leader of Congress Legislators (CLP) Ravindra Choubey, PCC spokesperson Iqbal Ahmed Rizvi, MLAs Agni Chandrakar, Chaitram Sahu and Lekhram Sahu, Uday Mudliyar, Chhaya Verma and other Congress leaders jointly on Friday.
“The farmers were receiving Rs 1000 as MSP against per quintal of paddy and after the recent hike in MSP, they will now get Rs 1080. The state government procures about 40 lakh tonnes of paddy annually and the increased MSP would enhance the income of the farmers by Rs 350 crore.
Slamming the BJP for not fulfilling its promise made to the farmers in its manifesto during previous Assembly elections that it would disburse Rs 270 bonus against per quintal of paddy, the Congress leaders said it distributed bonus only in the first year after coming into power in its second term.
“What happened after one year? Why the BJP government stopped giving Rs 270 bonus to the farmers from the second year? This is because the BJP always intended to deceive the farmers,” they said.
The Congress leaders pointed out that the BJP-led NDA had never increase MSP more than Rs 10 in any of the calendar years during its regime at Centre. “The NDA simply played with the emotions of the farmers by making false promise to them,” they added.
The also attached a comparative chart of the MSP increase of wheat and paddy offered by the NDA government from 1999-2004 and that of the UPA government from 2004-2009 to clarify matters stating that the NDA made a meagre increase of Rs 70 per quintal for A-grade paddy and an increase of Rs 80 per quintal for the wheat crop during their five years of rule from 1999-2004. Whereas, the UPA has substantially increased the MSP of A-grade paddy by Rs 330 per quintal and that of wheat by Rs 440 per quintal in its present tenure, they added.
“In fact, the BJP is habituated to make empty promises to the farmers before elections and then it merely shrugs of and refuses to fulfill anything it had said earlier. This indicates, how BJP is exploiting the farmers,” they said.
No comments:
Post a Comment