MSPs on Crops Progressively Raised by Modi Govt in Last Six Years, Says Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the minimum support prices (MSPs) on crops were progressively raised by the Modi government in the last six years, according to an official statement. Interacting with farmers, sarpanches (village heads), panches and local activists of Nagri block in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, he said the opposition has no facts or figures to prove their criticism of the government and is indulging in a purely political rhetoric to denigrate the path-breaking decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“It is, therefore, incumbent on us to fight out this motivated campaign at the public level and reach out to farmers and the common people in general with facts and figures, which can be verified by anybody,” the minister of state for personnel said. He said the leadership of the previous governments should first explain why the procurement was less during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime as compared to the present National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule.

Citing an instance, Singh said while the wheat procurement from 2009 to 2014 under the UPA was 1,395 lakh metric ton, during the subsequent NDA-1 rule from 2014-19, it increased to 1,457 lakh metric ton, according to the statement issued by the personnel ministry. “The truth is on our side and we must confront the opposition design with full confidence and moral strength,” he added.

In a forceful counter to the opposition charge that the prime minister wants to put an end to the provision of minimum support price (MSP) on crops, Singh cited figures and evidence to assert that contrary to what is being said, over the last six years, the MSPs on crops were progressively raised by the government. Substantiating his point, he said for example, the per quintal MSP for paddy was Rs 1,410 in 2015-16, which was raised to Rs 1,470 in 2016-17, Rs 1,550 in 2017-18, Rs 1,750 in 2018-19, Rs 1,815 in 2019-20 and further to Rs 1,868 in 2020-21.

Similarly, Singh said the per quintal MSP on wheat was Rs 1,525 in 2015-16, Rs 1,625 in 2015-16, Rs 1,735 in 2017-18, Rs 1,840 in 2018-19 and Rs 1,925 in 2019-20. The per quintal MSP on peanut was Rs 4,030 in 2015-16, Rs 4,220 in 2016-17, Rs 4,450 in 2017-18, Rs 4,890 in 2018-19, Rs 5,090 in 2019-20 and Rs 5,275 in the current year of 2020-21, the statement said.

The minister said the list is long but a similar phenomenon can also be noted in case of other items like soya bean, grams etc.