New Delhi, October 4: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has dismissed the Centre’s decision to hike MSP of wheat by Rs 105 per quintal as a joke on the beleaguered farmers of the country.
The hike was inadequate and short of the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan Commission, which needed to be implemented in toto for any significant difference to be made to the lives of the farmers, said Captain Amarinder in a statement issued here.
The Chief Minister pointed out that he had been personally pursuing the matter of full implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, along with Rs 100 per quintal as compensation to farmers in lieu of not burning the paddy residue. However, the Centre had failed on both counts, clearly indicating its non-seriousness on the issue of farmer welfare and environmental pollution, he added.
The Chief Minister further pointed out that the farming community across the country had also been fighting for the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, in totality, to ensure better returns for them.
Captain Amarinder said the BJP-led central government had, in the past over four years, failed to take any positive steps for the farmers, or for any other section of the society. The BJP-led government at the Centre had promised to double farmers’ income, but the promise remains unfulfilled even as the government is coming to an end of its tenure, he added.
