Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday sought reconstitution of the Centre’s committee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops by giving due representation to Punjab.
Mann, in separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, said: “It is ironic that the state, which has most successfully implemented MSP since the initiation of this scheme, has been kept out of the committee.”
The Chief Minister pointed out that the Union Government has recently constituted the Committee regarding MSP under the chairmanship of former IAS officer Sanjay Aggarwal. He noted that in this Committee, several experts and senior officers from various states have been included as members, but none from Punjab.
The Chief Minister said that Punjab had played a vital role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains by contributing about 35-40 per cent of wheat and 25-30 per cent of rice to the Central Pool in the last about one decade.
“It is worth mentioning that nearly 60-62 million tonnes of wheat and rice, most of which are produced by the hard working farmers of state, are distributed every year to about 800 million people of the country at highly subsidized rates under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013,” said Mann, adding that everyone is well aware of the fact that these welfare programmes of Governments for the poor have been made possible due to the immense contribution of Punjab.
The Chief Minister further said that during 2021- 22, out of total global rice exports of about 54 million tonnes, India contributed about 21.5 million tonnes (about 40 per cent of total export), and Punjab has contributed heavily towards these rice exports, despite the fact that paddy is not the staple food of Punjabis.
Mann underlined that keeping in view the key role of Punjab in ushering the green revolution and making the country food grain surplus, due representation must be given to the State by reconstituting the MSP.