Badal to raise MSP issue in NDC meeting on April 19

Chandigarh, Apr (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today advocated a 'cost plus 50 per cent profit' as a viable formula to save the beleaguered peasantry from an imminent disaster.

He said this was the only option before the centre in the event of 'an illogical non-acceptance' of long standing demand of linking Minimum support Price (MSP) of agriculture produce with Wholesale Price Index.

He made these remarks while chairing a meeting ahead of the crucial meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) Sub Committee on Agriculture to be held in New Delhi on April18, Mr Badal said farmers of Punjab are getting neck deep into indebtness due to increasing gap between rising prices of agriculture inputs and meager raise of MSP by the government every year.

The Chief Minister said that indebtness of farmers was not only a phenomenon restricted to Punjab, but was a virtual economic calamity and every state would have to raise a collective voice to save farmers from committing suicides. He said that magnitude of the impact of a raging farm crisis on the overall economy of the country would be frightening if effective and immediate fiscal course corrections are not undertaken on a war-footing by the Centre.

He asked the Agriculture Department to prepare a concept paper of loss being incurred by farmers of Punjab, every year, due to non linkage of MSP of agriculture produce to the price index.

He said that he would raise this issue forcefully in the ensuing meeting of NDC Sub-Committee on Agriculture and expected that all states with agriculture based economies would support his stance in the meeting. He said that the central government would have to take solid measures by re-orienting the marketing process of agriculture produce culminating in open marketing and export of agriculture produce on the pattern of western countries.

Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, media advisor Harcharan Bains and eminent farm scientist Dr G S Kalkat, participated in the meeting. Among the officers who were present in the meeting were Chief Secretary R I Singh, Principal Secretary to CM D S Guru, Financial Commissioner Development G S Sandhu and Director Agriculture.

UNI