And now, UP’s paddy farmers join the fray

At a public rally at Laxmi Nagar in Kushinagar district, Chandra Shekhar had even advocated a movement on the lines of the Quit India type movement for the redressal of the farmers’ grievances. The three former prime ministers had said that the Vajpayee Government was busy appeasing its coalition partners rather than solving the problems of harassed farmers. Under pressure from Prakash Singh Badal, the Government announced a package of Rs 350 crore for Punjab farmers. Similarly, the Government announced Rs 10 crore for tobacco farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Rs 50 crore for rubber farmers, they said.

The state government was so indifferent to farmers that it could not mount pressure on the Centre to announce a similar package for the state’s farmers, Chandra Shekhar added.

The state government, which has taken the responsibility of procurement, hasnot opened purchasing centres in eastern UP. It has asked the FoodCorporation to open 27 purchasing centres in eastern UP. But the SeniorRegional Manager of the FCI, B.K.Agarwal, said it could not open the centreswithout the Union Government’s nod.

At the few purchasing centres the state government had opened, only 500 tonnes of paddy has reportedly been procured so far. With the state government dilly-dallying on procurement, western UP farmers have been forced to sell their paddy in Haryana and eastern UP farmers have been selling their produce at throwaway prices.

According to reports received here, there are no takers for paddy for even Rs 350-400 against the procurement price of Rs 540 per quintal for Grade A paddy and Rs 510 for common variety, announced by the Centre.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Minister Narendra Singh confirmed that farmers were selling paddy at Rs 350-400 per quintal. The Minister said, in all the state government would procure 12 lakh tonnes of rice. Out of this, it will give 9 lakh tonnes to the Central pool and the rest will be kept for the state’s PDS requirement, he said.

The Minister added that unless the Centre relaxed the specifications, it would be difficult to procure paddy in eastern UP which was damaged and contained more than 18 per cent moisture content. He has also urged the Centre to reduce the rice recovery from 67 to 63 per cent.