Centre agrees to bear value cut on wheat procurement

Punjab Government today said the Centre has acceded to its request and decided to bear the value-cut it imposed on the purchase of wheat affected by unseasonal rains.
The Union Cabinet today decided to bear the value cut after a series of meetings with Punjab Food Minister Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon who was able to convince the Union Food Ministry that "in this hour of crisis it was imperative for the Centre to stand in support of Punjab farmers who have fed the nation for the last 67 years", said an official release.
Kairon, in the statement, said he was able to make a point that Punjab farmers should not be made to suffer for the unseasonal rains and hail storms and it was the moral duty of the Centre to bear the loss of value cut.

He was able to convince that farmers, irrespective of damaged grains should get the full MSP of their crop as announced by the Union government earlier and no value cut should be imposed on already distressed farmers of Punjab.
In a communique sent to the Punjab Food department, it was said that the Centre would reimburse the amount of value cut imposed on the wheat being procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies in Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under relaxed quality norms.
The reimbursement of this amount would be made to the state governments through the FCI.

The state governments have decided to bear the amount of value cut imposed on the wheat being procured from farmers by the FCI and state agencies under relaxed specifications in the current Rabi Marketing Season.