Politics behind the purchase of paddy in Punjab-Haryana, farmers to protest from 24th
#News Bureau October 24,2024
The crisis of not buying paddy has deepened in Punjab. Farmers continue to protest at 51 places. With the issue taking a political turn, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has called Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded his immediate intervention. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) is likely to announce protests and dharnas across the state from Thursday, October 24.
However, central agencies are short of space to store paddy. The central government is not accepting this. Apart from the rice stock left in the central pool of last year, paddy procurement has declined in the current Kharif season (2024-25), which started two weeks ago, due to lack of storage in Punjab and Haryana. On the other hand, Adani Group has silos (storage) in Haryana-Punjab. After the price of paddy falls, Adani Group will buy them and fill their warehouses. Adani Group has 11 corporate silos in Punjab.
Sources say that CM Bhagwant Mann has apprised Amit Shah of the possibility of a law and order crisis if the problem is not resolved. He asked Shah to ensure that the Center quickly clears last year’s food stock from Punjab’s warehouses to make space for this year’s rice. Rice mill owners (rice shellers) have refused to take the paddy coming to the mandis until they are provided space to store new stock.Punjab’s ruling and opposition parties accused the BJP of deliberately creating trouble in the state to take revenge on Punjab farmers protesting against the three farm laws. The government was forced to withdraw the three farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers.
Punjab’s ruling and opposition parties accused the BJP of deliberately creating trouble in the state to take revenge on Punjab farmers protesting against the three farm laws. The government was forced to withdraw the three farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers.
Meanwhile, the four-day deadline given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and associations of commission agents and rice millers to the Punjab government has expired. The issue remains largely unresolved. Ludhiana. SKM leader Raminder Singh said that since there has been no improvement in paddy lifting and farmers are facing rotting paddy in mandis, they may announce a statewide protest from October 24.
According to data available, till last week, central procurement agency Food Corporation of India and state government agencies have procured 4 million tonnes (MT) of paddy from farmers mostly in Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, which is 39% less than the 6.52 MT procured in the same period of the last season (2023-24).
Punjab is the biggest contributor to the central pool stock. As against 2.48 MT lifted from farmers last year, only 1.15 MT of paddy has been procured so far, a decline of 53%.
Paddy procurement at MSP in Haryana so far is 2.48 MT, a decline of 53% year-on-year. MSP procurement in Punjab and Haryana is 1.36 MT and 2.93 MT respectively. In the current season, the target is to procure 18.5 MT and 5.97 MT of paddy from Punjab and Haryana respectively by the end of November.
Agriculture watcher and writer Devendra Sharma had tweeted on Tuesday that I am in Punjab’s Ferozepur Cantonment Mandi today (Tuesday). 2.35 lakh bags of paddy have been procured and with only 15% lifting so far, the market is jam packed with paddy. Wherever I can see, there are only paddy sacks standing
Punjab minister Harpal Singh Cheema says, “Punjab farmers are bringing paddy to the mandis, but the central government has delayed lifting the rice. Our ministers are writing letters to the central government to get the godowns vacated so that storage arrangements can be made, but the central government has not got the godowns vacated as part of a conspiracy against Punjab, because the BJP hates Punjab and farmers a lot… We will make every possible effort to protect the interests of the farmers. …
There is an AAP government in Punjab. But the situation in Haryana is not good. Naib Singh Saini had talked about paddy procurement in his first cabinet meeting. It was also mentioned in the government press note. But the ground reality is like Punjab. The markets of Haryana’s paddy belt are full of paddy but FCI is purchasing at a very slow pace.
