Chandigarh, July 22-
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops by giving due representation to Punjab.
In a letter to PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, he said, “It is ironical that the state which has most successfully implemented MSP since the initiation of this scheme has been kept out the committee”
The Chief Minister said that the Union Government has recently constituted the Committee regarding MSP under the Chairmanship of former IAS officer Sanjay Aggarwal. He said that in this Committee several experts and senior officers from various states have been included as members, but none from Punjab.
The Chief Minister apprised Mr Modi that Punjab had played a vital role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains by contributing about 35-40 per cent of wheat and 25-30 per cent of rice to the Central Pool in last about one decade. He said it is worth mentioning that nearly 60-62 million tonnes of wheat and rice, most of which are produced by the hard working farmers of state, are distributed every year to about 800 million people of the country at highly subsidized rates under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. Bhagwant Mann said that everyone is well aware of the fact that these welfare programmes of Governments for the poor have been made possible due to the immense contribution of Punjab.
The Chief Minister further said that during 2021- 22, out of total global rice exports of about 54 million tonnes, India contributed about 21.5 million tonnes (about 40% of total export). Punjab has contributed heavily towards these rice exports, despite the fact that paddy is not the staple food of Punjabis. Bhagwant Mann underlined that keeping in view the key role of Punjab in ushering the green revolution and making the country food grain surplus, due representation must be given to state by reconstituting the MSP.
