Procurement: A much-used tool to further the interests of political parties

One govt after another has been reaching out to the farmer just ahead of crucial polls, offering remunerative prices for his crops in a bid to score electoral victories

Even as farmers across the country have been protesting to safeguard the MSP-based procurement mechanism for wheat and rice which they fear will whittle down with the introduction of the three agriculture acts, the ruling BJP said in its manifesto for the Bihar elections that its government will soon start procuring pulses from the state.

While it remains to be seen to what extent that promise will be fulfilled in the coming years, the announcement once again shows how procurement has been used by various political parties as a tool to foster their political ambitions.

This is particularly true of crops such