Punjab CM rejects wheat bonus of Rs 50

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has rejected the bonus of Rs 50 a quintal on wheat — over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,120 — for the current Rabi marketing season, describing the same as inadequate, much delayed and unjustified.

In a statement, Badal said the non-remunerative MSP, coupled with the Centre’s anti-farmer policies, was primarily responsible for the slowdown in agricultural growth.

Though his government had been constantly pleading the case of Punjab’s beleaguered peasantry and demanded an MSP of at least Rs 1,400 a quintal, Badal lamented it was a paradox that the MSP demanded by the farming community was far below the price at which the country had been importing wheat from Australia.

There was hardly any justification to deprive the local producers of the same price, he added.

Badal said it was high time the Centre fixed the MSP by providing a margin of 50 per cent to the farmers over the cost of production, as suggested by agricultural economist M S Swaminathan.