HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, in a letter on Wednesday, asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Civil Supplies Ministry to procure entire marketable surplus of Rabi paddy from Telangana.“Otherwise, MSP has no meaning for the paddy-growing farmers in Telangana. Also it will have an adverse effect on the farming sector and on the overall economy and will adversely affect our goal of national food security,” Rao told the PM. He also sought a National Procurement Policy for the country.
“Agriculture marketing is one of the crucial areas of support the Central and the State governments should provide to the farming community. Therefore, we should have a National Food Gains Procurement Policy, which should be uniform throughout the country and cover all food grains. Further, such a policy should have suitable statutory backing to ensure its implementation,” Rao wrote.
Convene meeting of agricultural experts, CMs
The Chief Minister also asked the Prime Minister to convene a a meeting with agricultural experts and Chief Ministers to discuss and debate to formulate a suitable National Procurement Policy. “Such inconsistent and uncertain policies of the Union government are causing high degree of frustration and dissatisfaction among farmers. Our country has witnessed the fury of our farmers in the last two years, when the Central government has enacted anti-farmer laws. Farmers were feeling helplessness and aggrieved. Bowing to he farmers’ agitation, the Centre had no option but to repeal those laws,” Rao wrote .
He explained that on account of various steps like incentives and infrastructure development taken by the Telangana government, agriculture production increased substantially. With such high growth in agriculture production, farmer suicides and migration had been reduced, the Chief Minister said. He requested the Prime Minister to ensure that the Centre procures entire quantity of paddy after meeting the State’s PDS requirements, as per the MoU entered with the State government.
“It is incumbent upon the Central government to procure whatever paddy is available in Telangana. While this has been the practice in the past, I am constrained to bring it your notice that the Ministry of Food and Consumers Affairs is disinclining to procure paddy since last two years. We should not ignore the fact that the implementation MSP and enforcement of National Food Security Act, 2013 is primarily the responsibility of the Union government,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.
KCR orders TRS protests against fuel price hike
TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday called upon the TRS cadre to stage protests in all Assembly constituencies on Thursday against the hike in fuel prices. TRS general secretary Palla Rajeshwar Reddy in a statement asked party workers to stage protests as per the call given by the party president.