Ending days of suspense over the fate of paddy cultivated in the State in the current rabi and refusal of Centre to purchase rice turned out of the huge stocks at mills, the State government on Tuesday decided to buy the entire quantity itself at the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹1,960 a quintal for Grade A and ₹1,940 a quintal for common varieties.
The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao a day after he lambasted the Centre at a dharna in New Delhi for its indifference towards the plight of farmers over the uncertainty on disposal of produce.
Mr. Rao, meanwhile, appealed to farmers not to resort to distress sale but wait for three or four days for the opening of centres in villages to make the purchases which may entail the government an expenditure of ₹ 3,000 to 4,000 crore. A committee headed by the Chief Secretary and comprising secretaries of finance, agriculture and irrigation will study how to deal with the paddy at government end after it was received from farmers. However, the Collectors will start the process from Wednesday by holding video conferences to gear up the administration to start procurement centres.
He repeated his charges of Centre shying away from the responsibility of ensuring food security by refusing to make purchases in the State. The Centre was so pro-rich that it could afford to waive bad capital of ₹10,500 lakh crore created by bank fraudsters and big business houses but did not want to bear loss of ₹ 3,000 to 3,500 crore on account of purchase of broken rice of rabi in the State.
For one hundred kgs of paddy, raw rice to the extent of 67 kgs was turned out in kharif. But, turnover of raw rice was only 34 or 35 kgs in rabi while the balance was broken rice which the Centre was duty bound to buy. On the other hand, Mr. Rao said Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal spoke irresponsibly asking the State government to promotion consumption of broken rice by people if the State government was concerned about farmers.
He praised farmers for cutting down cultivation of paddy in rabi by nearly 20 lakh acres but contributing production of 36 lakh tonnes. None of the States in the country produced even half of this quantity. He announced a convention of farmers’ organisations in the country at Hyderabad shortly to discuss and declare an integrated new agricultural policy with Constitutional guarantee for MSP.
