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- Published: September 21, 2020 21:06
New Delhi: Amid protests over farm bills, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha on Mond*ay that government has raised the -minimum support price (MSP) of six Rabi crops. This comes a day after two agriculture-related bills were passed by parliament yesterday amid chaos.
The MSP of rabi crops like Wheat, Chana and others have raised.
It assumed significance as the Prime Minister today sought to allay the concerns of farmers over farm bills and told that the MSP will stay on even after new legislations come into force.
Narendra Singh Tomar said that MSP of wheat was hiked by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1,975 per quintal. The minister said that the NDA government has been implementing the Swaminathan Committee recommendation to provide farmers price at 1.5 times of production cost.
“After the Parliament passed historic agriculture bills, today some important decisions were taken regarding an increase in MSP. Before the sowing of Rabi crops, today, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the MSP of six Rabi crops,” the minister said.
MSP is a price at which the government procures crops from farmers, when the market prices fall below it due to high supplies.
“After an increase of Rs 50, MSP of wheat is now Rs 1,975 per quintal. MSP of chana (gram) has been hiked by Rs 225 per quintal to Rs 5,100. MSP of masoor (lentil) has been fixed at Rs 5,100 per quintal after an increase Rs 300. MSP of sarson (mustard) has been increased by Rs 200 to Rs 4050 per quintal. MSP of barley has increased by Rs 75 Rs to Rs 1600 per quintal. After an increase of Rs 112, MSP of safflower is now Rs 5,327 per quintal,” he said.
Minimum Support Price for wheat increased by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1,975 per quintal: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar pic.twitter.com/RYzu8Yjy6h
— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2020
Lauding the passage of agriculture bills in Parliament, Tomar said that the MSP and APMCs will continue.
“Congress was saying that MSP and APMC will end. I had said that MSP and APMC will continue. Farmers are also free to sell their produce anywhere outside APMC,” he said.
He said that Rs 7 lakh crore were paid to farmers as the MSP payment in the last six years which was almost double than that of the corresponding period during the UPA regime.