CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday termed the meagre MSP hike for paddy as not only grossly inadequate but an insult to the farmers who have been fighting for their rightful dues through their anti-Farm Laws agitation for the past over six months.
At a time when the farmers continued to put their lives on the line with their prolonged protest at the Delhi borders, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central Government has, instead of putting the balm on their wounds, added insult to injury with the MSP announcement, said the Chief Minister.
Captain Amarinder slammed the anti-farmer Government at the Centre for consistently failing to protect the interests of the farmers and its apathy for their problems. The less than 4% hike in MSP of paddy was not enough even to meet the increased input costs, he pointed out, citing the extraordinary hikes in diesel and other costs over the past one year. The increase in MSP of other crops was also quite measly, he added, noting that the small hike in the base price of Maize would discourage farmers from going in for the much-needed crop diversification to save the precious and depleting water resource.
The Chief Minister noted that the Swaminathan Committee, whose recommendations the central government has adamantly refused to accept, had clearly suggested that MSP should be “at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production”. Far from implementing the recommendations of the Committee in the interests of the farmers and the nation’s food security, the BJP-led Government had passed the anti-farmer Farm Laws that are clearly aimed at destroying India’s farmers, he lamented.