Stressing the need for a national foo grains procurement policy, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has reiterated his demand that the Central Government should procure the entire quantity of paddy produced in the State after meeting the State’s PDS requirements, in line with the MoU entered with the State Government.
In a detailed letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said it was incumbent upon the Centre to procure whatever paddy available in Telangana. “While this has been the practice in the past, I am constrained to bring it to your notice that the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs is disinclining to procure paddy since the past two years,” he said.
He said the fact that implementation of MSP and enforcement of National Food Security Act 2013 was the primary responsibility of the Centre should not be ignored. The State Government, having realised the need for diversification of crops, took several proactive measures to encourage farmers to expand cultivation of cotton, oil palm, red gram and other crops.
As a result, paddy cultivation had come down from 52 lakh acres in Rabi 2021 to 36 lakh acres in 2022. “While continuing our efforts on crop diversification, we should procure entire marketable paddy without any restrictions as it takes a long time to achieve the goal of optimum level of diversification,” he said.
On the uniform food grains procurement policy at the national level, Mr. Rao said the policy should be uniform throughout the country and cover all the crops. There was no uniform national level food grains procurement policy as of now. “For example, the Government of India procures entire marketable surplus of paddy and wheat in some States like Punjab, Haryana, but not in other States like Telangana,” he said adding there should not be different policies of the Union Government for different States within the country.
He recommended that the Prime Minister convene a meeting with agricultural experts and Chief Ministers to discuss and formulate a suitable national procurement policy. The policy should have suitable statutory backing to ensure its implementation.
“Such inconsistent and uncertain policies of the Government of India are causing high degree of frustration and dissatisfaction among farmers,” he said. He recalled that the country had witnessed the fury of farmers in the last two years when the Government had enacted “anti-farmer laws” as farmers were feeling helplessness and aggrieved. “Bowing down to the farmers’ agitation, the GoI had no option but to repeal those laws,” he said.
