NEW DELHI: The Congress On Thursday accused the PM Narendra Modi-led government of deceiving farmers across the country in the name of the Minimum Support Price (MSP), saying that the MSP does not even cover the input costs and most of the crops are not being purchased at MSP.
“The MSP has become the maximum suffering for the producers,” remarked the party general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing a press conference at the party office here today.
Referring to the MSP on paddy announced by the Government of India, he said it was Rs 766 less than the input costs. He said while the input cost of the paddy per quintal was Rs 3,135, the government had announced only Rs 2,369 MSP for the paddy. He said even the NDA/BJP-ruled states had said that the input costs were more than the MSP.
Giving details, he said Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra had said that the input costs of paddy per quintal were Rs 3,260, Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,783 respectively.
Surjewala said that the marginal increase in MSP by the government is less than the inflation rate. He said that farmers’ costs are rising due to the increase in prices of diesel, electricity, seeds and fertilisers, but the government is not even covering their basic expenses.
He also referred to the reduction of Rs 24,000 crore in fertiliser subsidy by the government. Besides, he added, the government does not purchase all the crops for which it has announced the MSP. “What is the point of announcing the MSP when there is no purchase?” he asked.
The Congress general secretary said that the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Agriculture had recommended the MSP guarantee law and removal of GST on agricultural products, but the government trashed that report. He also accused the government of not spending Rs three lakh crore allocated for
farming schemes.