Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday asked the Union Government to "upwardly revise" the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat for the forthcoming season.
"The MSP must be hiked to the level where the mismatch between input costs of agriculture produce and MSP announced for these was removed," Badal said in a statement in Chandigarh.
He said the Swaminthan formula for fixing the MSP should be implemented. According to this formula, farmers should get MSP which should cover production costs, plus 50% of these costs to be paid to the farmer.
"He saw hope in the approach, philosophy and administrative response of the present government to the needs of the poor and the farmers", Badal said, adding that considering market realities and the overall price index in the country, a wheat price of Rs 1,450 could not even cover the expenses incurred by the farmers.
These costs, said Badal, had been going up despite the NDA government's success in bridling the rate of inflation.
Badal said the announcement of MSP should be made well before the start of the sowing season so that farmers can decide which crops to sow.
He said at present there is a serious disconnect between the needs of the farmers on one hand and priorities of governments on the other. "This disconnect, which has lasted nearly seven decades since independence must be ended," he said.
Badal advocated the need for adopting and implementing aggressively pro-agriculture and pro-farmer policies to offset the negative effects of the agrarian crisis brought upon the economy in general and farmers in particular.
The new government at the Centre had to battle the legacy of the anti-farmer and anti poor policies of the UPA, he said.
"That makes it all the more necessary for the NDA government to undo the crippling effects of the UPA legacy and adopt and aggressively pro-agriculture and pro-farming policy. Hiking the MSP beyond the Rs 50 per quintal would be the first step in that direction," he said.
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