Cabinet to discuss raising paddy MSP, 'housing for all'

Amendments to the BIS Act could also come up for consideration at Wednesday's meeting

The Union Cabinet is likely to consider a proposal to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of kharif crops including that of paddy for the 2015-16 season at a meeting set for Wednesday.

Officials said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious programme of providing Housing for All by 2022 in urban areas could also come up for discussion.

Under the Housing for All scheme, officials said the Centre plans to provide assistance of around Rs 1.5 lakh a unit to build around 20 million dwellings in urban areas. Under the existing similar scheme the assistance amount is around Rs 75,000 per unit. The scheme would cover rental housing policy, slum redevelopment, affordable housing, and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual housing and interest subvention.

Officials said in the first phase, around 100 cities would be covered and the scheme would be for economically weaker sections and low-income groups.

In a meeting chaired recently to review the implementation of the programme, Modi had called upon all agencies to adopt a flexible approach by keeping in mind the local conditions.

Officials said the amendments to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, which would widen the scope of certification of products and services and hallmarking of gold, could also come up for discussion.

On MSP, news agency PTI quoted agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain as saying that a Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting was scheduled for Wednesday. “The proposal on MSP of kharif (summer) crops is listed on the agenda for discussion.”

The agriculture ministry has moved a CCEA note on MSP of various crops for the 2015-16 kharif season, taking into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), a government advisory body. According to sources, CACP has recommended a modest increase of Rs 50 a quintal to Rs 1,410 in the MSP for paddy farmers for the 2015-16 kharif season.

However, a section within the government feel such a meagre increase in paddy MSP at a time when southwest monsoon is not expected to be normal is not in the interest of farmers. A final decision is expected to be taken in CCEA meeting.

Apart from paddy, the CACP has suggested an increase of Rs 100 a quintal in the support price of ragi to Rs 1,650 and Rs 30 a quintal for groundnut MSP to Rs 4,030. CACP has recommended a higher MSP for pulses to boost domestic production and reduce India’s dependence on imports.

MSP is the rate at which the government buys grains from farmers. Paddy is the main crop grown in the kharif (summer) season. Sowing of kharif crops has already started with the onset of the south-west monsoon from June.

According to government data, area sown under the rice crop was higher at 471,000 hectares till the last week of this season, against 452,000 hectares in the same period last year.

The sowing area under cotton, sugarcane and jute remained lower in during the period. Rice production is pegged at 102.54 million tonnes in the ongoing 2014-15 crop year (July-June) against the record 106.65 million tonnes in the previous year. Higher MSP is expected to encourage farmers to increase sowing of paddy.