For fixing crops’ prices to bail out the farmers from the current agrarian crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday urged the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre to bring in place a viable mechanism, on the lines of Swaminathan formula. Interacting with media persons on the sidelines of his thanksgiving tour in Dhuri Assembly segment, Badal said the Centre must adopt some appropriate formula as proposed by the renowned agri-scientist Dr MS Swaminathan, for fixing the prices of crops in the country to save the farmers.
“The existing formula of fixing the prices is absurd and has insignificant relevance in the present scenario… As per the existing formula, the farmers are not even considered at par with the skilled labour, which is sheer injustice to them,” he lamented. He said: “Due to the flaws in the existing price fixation policy, the gap between the inputs costs and income of the farmers have further widened, which have made agriculture an absolutely non-profitable and un-remunerative venture.”
The Chief Minister said the State Government had recommended the cost of the Rabi crop for the year 2015-16 to the Central Government, while keeping in view the market price of the various inputs like seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, pesticides, irrigation and labour along with various other factors including the marketing expenditure and weather risks.
“We asked the Centre to fix the minimum support price (MSP) of crops like wheat, barley, gram and mustard at Rs1950, Rs1640, Rs3800 and Rs3600 per quintal respectively… We have also proposed the hike in MSP after determining the input costs of the Rabi crops for which agricultural experts had thoroughly analysed the current situation,” he added. Commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Sri Anandpur Sahib, Badal said that there was no other purpose of his visit to and Modi “is just coming to be a part of this mega event”.