Mumbai, Oct 23 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday asked the Centre and the Maharashtra government to explain why the MSP for soybeans has not touched Rs 6,000 per quintal, accusing the ruling BJP of not seeing
farmers as human beings.
The party’s state spokesperson Sachin Sawant claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in the Opposition in 2013, had then led a farmers’ march demanding an MSP (minimum support price) of Rs 6,000 per quintal for soybeans.
He said the Centre has announced a support price of Rs 5,328 per quintal for the staple crop this year.
“It has been 12 years since that march and 11 years since the Modi government came to power. Fadnavis Saheb should answer when the Rs 6,000 price will actually be achieved,” Sawant said in a statement.
While the BJP talks about making Maharashtra a developed state by 2047, “the reality is that under its rule, farmers are being pushed back to the Stone Age”, he claimed.
Farmers are currently selling soybeans in the open market at around Rs 3,500 per quintal, suffering direct losses of Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 per quintal, he said.
“The MSP procurement centres have not yet started functioning. There is a deliberate delay in their operation,” alleged the Congress leader.
Sawant also claimed that a new administrative “mess” has been created by distributing authority in the allocation of procurement centres.
“Earlier, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation had sole authority, but this time another agency has been involved, which will further delay procurement,” he said.
He said excessive rainfall has destroyed mung and urad crops, while soybean production has fallen sharply. “Despite hollow promises of providing relief before Diwali, farmers spent the festival in darkness,” he added.
“Earlier, MSP centres would start purchases before Diwali. Seeing the farmers’ plight, they should have begun (procurement) a month ago. The government has remained idle even though soybean arrivals started a month back,” he said.
With the Kharif crop damaged, prices should have increased, but they are falling instead, he claimed.
“For the BJP, elections and power are everything. They no longer see farmers as human beings. At least treat them as voters,” Sawant added. PTI MR NR
