The Congress on Thursday said the Narendra Modi government had betrayed farmers by not fixing minimum support price through the promised formula of input cost plus 50 per cent profit and refusing to purchase most of the commodities at MSP despite announcing rates for them.
Alleging that nothing except wheat and rice were purchased by the government at MSP, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said: “The Modi government will be remembered for the betrayal of and cruelty against farmers. Its track record in the last nine years bears testimony to that. It has never given MSP on the basis of input cost plus 50 per cent profit. Even yesterday’s announcement proved this. They have turned MSP into Maximum Sufferings for Producers.”
The government announced the MSPs for the kharif season on Wednesday.
One of the most enticing promises made by Modi before becoming Prime Minister in 2014 was fixing MSP on the basis of input cost plus 50 per cent profit. He had also promised to double farmers’ income by 2022.
Surjewala said: “Both promises have proved to be false. The central government neither followed this formula of 50 per cent profit nor accepted the demands of the BJP state governments.”
He added: “The MSP for paddy fixed by the government is Rs 2,183 per quintal. Input cost plus 50 per cent profit is Rs 2,867. The Gujarat government had asked for Rs 2,750, Assam sought Rs 3,132 and Maharashtra demanded Rs 4,534. For jowar, MSP is Rs 3,180 while input cost plus 50 per cent profit comes to Rs 4,250. Gujarat had demanded Rs 5,400, Maharashtra asked for 4,434 and Uttar Pradesh Rs 3,065. For bajra, MSP fixed is Rs 2,500 while input cost plus 50 per cent profit comes to Rs 2,717. Gujarat had asked for Rs 3,200, Maharashtra Rs 4,253 and Telangana Rs 8,194.”
For makka, the MSP offered is Rs 2,090 while input cost plus 50 per cent profit is Rs 2,696. Gujarat had demanded Rs 4,500 and Bihar Rs 3,122.
The story of pulses is the same. While MSP for arhar (tur daal) is Rs 7,000, input cost plus 50 per cent profit comes to Rs 8,990. Gujarat had demanded Rs 8,000. Moong MSP is Rs 8,558 while input cost plus 50 per cent profit is Rs 10,827. Gujarat had demanded Rs 9,300, Maharashtra Rs 10,972 and Karnataka Rs 13,722. The groundnut MSP is Rs 6,377 but the input cost plus 50 per cent profit is Rs 8,025. Gujarat had demanded Rs 7,500, Karnataka Rs 11,278 and Maharashtra Rs 15,483.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted: “Both the promises of the Modi government — 50% profit and doubling of farmers’ income — have proved to be lies. The PR of raising MSP for kharif crops is a sham as the government doesn’t procure items at MSP. Even the agriculture budget has been reduced. The names of two crore farmers have been deleted from the list of beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. An Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was announced withRs 1 lakh crore investmentbut only Rs 12,000 crore was sanctioned. Modi’s nine years have become a curse for farmers.”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tweeted about the Modi government’s “betrayal” of farmers, arguing that the peasants got nothing except false promises, income losses and police brutalities. She pointed out that on Tuesday, farmers demanding MSP for sunflower were brutallybeaten up by the police in Haryana.
Giving details of crop procurement at MSP, Surjewala said: “In 2022-23, only 50.02 per cent (of the total production of) paddy and 17.59 per cent wheat were procured by the government at MSP. Oilseeds (soybean, sunflower, mustard, groundnut, etc) procurement was 0.13 per cent of the total production, pulses 0.43 per cent and millets 0.26 per cent of the total production. Why do they announce MSP for other items if the procurement is to be restricted to paddy?”