State scan: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath's sugar cup is half full

Given the tardy pace of payments by mills, coupled with falling sugar prices, the cumulative arrears are projected to increase as the crushing season advances

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, speaking in the Uttar Pradesh assembly recently, displayed characteristic aggression in boasting about record sugarcane payments in the ongoing crushing season to underline his government’s pro-farmer credentials. 

In the run-up to the state polls in 2017, timely cane payments had been one of the flagship pre-poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The cash crop affects 4 million farmers’ households in the state and generates direct economy worth Rs 350 billion annually. 

In his discourse, Adityanath underscored cane payments of Rs 170 billion had been made to farmers and that sugar mills had been operating