Punjab leads in 532.86 LMT paddy procured in KMS 2021-22
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jan, 2022 12:27 PM
New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) Over 532.86 LMT (lakh metric tons) of paddy has been procured in Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2021-22 in 22 procuring states/UTs up to Sunday, January 9 with about 64 lakh farmers benefitted with Minimum Support Price (MSP) worth over Rs 1 lakh crore.
The highest quantity has been procured from Punjab (1,86,85,53 MT) followed by Chhattisgarh (67,65,986 MT) and Telangana (65,54,739 MT) while the highest number of farmers benefitted in are Chhattisgarh (16,90,459), Telangana (9,67,134) and Punjab (9,24,299).
The paddy procurement is progressing smoothly in KMS 2021-22 at MSP as was done in the previous years in Chandigarh, Gujarat, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, NEF (Tripura), Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, a release from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.
About 64.07 lakh farmers have been benefited with the MSP value of Rs 1,04,441.45 crore for KMS 2021-22 up to January 9 (as on January 10).
Quantity wise, the top 10 states are Punjab (1,86,85,532 MT), Chhattisgarh (67,65,986 MT), Telangana (65,54,739 MT), Haryana (55,30,596 MT), Uttar Pradesh ( 46,50,290 MT), Madhya Pradesh (31,84,827 MT), Odisha (17,29,048 MT), Andhra Pradesh (15,31,087 MT), Bihar (13,87,525 MT), and Uttarakhand (11,56,066 MT).
For the same season, the states from where more than 1 lakh farmers have benefited with MSP procurement are Chhattisgarh (16,90,459), Telangana (9,67,134), Punjab (9,24,299), Uttar Pradesh (6,56,162), Madhya Pradesh (4,67,771, Odisha (3,35,678), Haryana (3,10,083), Andhra Pradesh (2,14,729), Bihar (1,81,612), Maharashtra (1,88,643), West Bengal (1,86,696) and Tamil Nadu (1,01,218).
While the Centre's announcement to repeal three farm laws is seen as a political decision with eye on forthcoming assembly polls in five states, the BJP claims that it has nothing to do with elections as the party has won many states after laws were passed by the Parliament.
On January 12 this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the three farm laws after scores of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh pitched their tents on various Delhi borders in protest against the three laws.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands. The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
Congress legislator and Punjab unit party president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the minimum support price (MSP) is the bigger issue than farm laws as it is the lifeline of farmers.
Extending his greetings to the people on Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev, the Chief Minister said it was really a matter of great honour to inaugurate this prestigious project which happens to coincide with Gurpurab.
Three employees of Air India, accused of having a role in the smuggling of gold, have been arrested, officials said on Friday. They have been accused of having a hand in a recent incident wherein 1.5 kg gold -- stored beneath an aircraft's seat -- was seized.
