Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday rejected as "inadequate" the hike of Rs60 and Rs100 per quintal in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy and cotton, respectively, announced by the Central Government.
Dubbing the decision a "retrograde step to rob the farmers", Badal said against a demand of Rs1,800 and Rs4,674 per quintal raised by the Punjab Government, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the MSP of paddy and cotton at Rs1,310 and Rs3,700 per quintal, respectively, for the current kharif season.
"This is a retrograde step to rob the farmers of genuine margins of profit, thereby making the plight of already distressed farmers from bad to worse," said Badal.
The Chief Minister said that farmers, particularly in Punjab - the Green Revolution State - would be further demoralised by this.
He added that agriculture was no more a profitable venture due to squeezed margins owing to constant hike in the cost of agricultural inputs like diesel, seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides.
Terming the Cabinet decision "anti-farmer and a cruel joke with the peasantry", Badal further said that the UPA Government had not only rubbed salt into the wounds of the farmers by doing so, but such a decision also led to a major setback to the hardworking and resilient farming community. This could put the national food security in peril, he added.
Accusing the Central government of double-speak, Badal said that while it was forcing farmers to go in for crop diversification, on the other hand, it was denying them the "legitimate" MSP.
Badal said he had personally taken up the issue of ensuring permanent procurement mechanism for these crops with the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh several times to motivate the farmers to cultivate cotton, maize and Basmati.
He also revealed that the State Government had already demanded MSP of Rs1700 and Rs3500 per quintal for maize and Basmati. Punjab, with just 1.54 per cent of the country's geographical area, contributes over 60 per cent of the total food grain to the national kitty and the decision puts all
in jeopardy.