The June 18 biennial elections to three Rajya Sabha seats may send new faces from the ruling BJP and opposition Congress. As per the numbers in the Vidhan Sabha, the BJP will easily win two seats and the third seat will go to the Congress. The names suggested by the state BJP leadership to Delhi include Cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and ex-ministers Arvind Bhadoriya and Lal Singh Arya, besides Kshatriya leader from Vindhya Kanti Dev Singh. The frontrunners for Congress tickets include 79-year-old ex-CM and nine-time former Lok Sabha member Kamal Nath, ex-MP Meenakashi Natrajan and party’s state president Jitendra Patwari.
Wheat procurement hits a record at 104 lakh MT
Madhya Pradesh has procured a record 104.22 lakh metric tonnes wheat from 13.75 lakh farmers against the target of 100 lakh metric tones. It has become the leading state in the country in terms of number of farmers from whom the wheat was procured at MSP. The state was initially assigned a target of 78 lakh MT for wheat procurement, but later the Centre enhanced it to 100 lakh MT. So far Rs 24,000 crore has been paid to farmers for wheat procurement at Rs 2625 per quintal (including a bonus of Rs 40 per quintal). Out of the procured wheat, 96,52,957 MT have been transported, accounting for 93% of the procurement.
Special action plan for paan farming in 10 dists
A special action plan with a budgetary provision of Rs 1.03 crore has been implemented for encouraging paan cultivation in 10 districts of MP. What has prompted the plan is the growing popularity of MP’s paan. While Chhatarpur’s Bangla paan, known for its sweetness and mild bitterness, is gaining popularity in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the paan cultivated in two villages of Rewa is being supplied to major cities in UP, including Varanasi, Prayagraj and Lucknow. The Chaurasia community has been cultivating paan in Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Narsinghpur, Rewa and Mandsaur districts.
Anuraag Singh
Our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh
singhanuraag.jaurno@gmail.com