Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cleared the state’s proposal asking the GoI to make upward revision in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of various crops for Kharif 2016-17 over the corresponding MSP during 2015-16.Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the State Agriculture department forwarded a detailed proposal to the Commission for Agriculture Costs & Prices (CACP) for seeking hike in the MSP of the Common Variety of Paddy from Rs.1410 in 2015-16 to Rs.1960 per quintal in 2016-17. Likewise, the agriculture department also sought an upward revision in the MSP of Paddy grade ‘A’ variety from Rs.1450 to Rs.2011 per quintal.
The spokesperson further said that the Chief Minister demanded the MSP of Maize to be hiked from Rs.1325 to Rs.1900 per quintal and Cotton from Rs.3800-4000 to Rs.5949 per quintal in the proposal forwarded to CACP. Similarly, the proposal stipulated an increase in the MSP of Moong from Rs.4650 to Rs.6300 per quintal, Maha and Arhar from Rs.4425 per quintal each to Rs.6100 and Rs.6000 respectively. Apart from this, the Chief Minister also envisaged an increase in the MSP of Groundnut from Rs.4030 to Rs.5500 per quintal.
Mr. Badal categorically said that the hike in the MSP of above mentioned crops during the Kharif 2016-17 was necessitated to boost the crop diversification plan especially for the promotion of crops like maize, cotton, moong, maha, arhar and groundnut in the state. This move would not only benefit the state’s peasantry substantially but also help the state to arrest the trend of declining ground water. It may be recalled that the state government under its ambitious agriculture diversification program had already planned to reduce the area under paddy cultivation from 28 lakh hectares to 12 lakh hectares over a period of five years.