The state Congress said the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy hiked by the Centre was insufficient and questioned the Union government’s sincerity in doubling the income of farmers in the country as being promised by it.
In a statement state general secretary and chairman communication wing of the party Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said the meager increase of Rs 85 in MSP for paddy unmasked the anti-farmer’s face of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
He further asserted that the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in the state would continue providing Rs 2500 as MSP for paddy to farmers of the state.
BJP government had several times reiterated that it would adopt the recommendations of Swaminathan committee and had valued the production cost of paddy as Rs 1484 per quintal.
It was the Baghel government in the state which had implemented for the first time the recommendation of the committee by providing farmer 1.5 fold cost of production of paddy. It has fulfilled its polls promise of providing Rs 2500 MSP for paddy.
Claiming that Modi government had failed to keep the promise, Trivedi further said that the meager hike in MSP for paddy by the Center was just a ‘political lollipop’.