While reiterating his government’s commitment to continue with free power for farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Tuesday demanded that the Centre should implement the Swaminathan Committee report in letter and spirit, with MSP to be determined at cost of production plus 50%.The MSP determination should be done based on calculation of the production cost with full market rent of the land used, and include their labour cost at the rates of a skilled labourer, demanded the Chief Minister, adding that in order to promote investment in agriculture, the rate of interest should be reduced to 6 percent from the existing 13 percent.Captain Amarinder Singh also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the implementation of its farm debt waiver scheme, declaring that though a provision of Rs 4250 crore has been in the current budget for the Debt Relief Scheme, the government will fully meet its commitment of Rs 9500 crore for the debt waiver.He said that as announced earlier, his government will take over the debts of the families of farmer suicide victims and a scheme for it will be notified after the Vidhan Sabha Committee, set up to study such deaths, submits its report. The chief minister also announced that his government will soon amend the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act 2016, on the basis of the Cabinet Sub Committee report, to provide farmers an effective forum for reconciliation of their non-institutional (Aarthia's) loans.
Criticising the opposition for attempting to mislead the farmers on the issue of free power, the Chief Minister, while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, said that a small pilot project had been initiated to install meters on 990 tube wells in order to incentivize farmers to save ground water, which had decreased to critical levels. These farmers will be paid subsidy on normative basis to encourage them to save electricity with judicious use of water. “This project is all about saving precious water and has nothing to do with electricity bills, as free power will continue,” he assured the House.Capt. Amarinder Singh also informed the House that his government was bringing the first ever Agriculture Policy for the state and he urged all the members to give their free and frank suggestions on it. The Chief Minister also reiterated his appeal to all the big and well-to-do farms to voluntarily surrender the subsidy on electricity in order to give more benefits to the poor and needy farmers and farm labourers.Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement that “MSP will include labour cost of other workers employed, expenses incurred on own animals and cost of animals and machinery taken on rent, cost of seeds, cost of each type of fertilizer used, irrigation cost, land revenue paid to the State, interest paid on working capital, ground rent in case of leased land and also the cost of labour of the farmer himself or any other person of his family who contributes his or her labour in agricultural work,” the Chief Minister said the union government should go a step further. “The production cost should include the full market rent of the land used by the famers and their labour should be calculated at the rates of a skilled labourer,” he said.
The Chief Minister informed the house that there had been a steady increase in farm suicides during the last ten years, with about 9155 farmers ending their lives (one every 10 hours). He said that though such incidents had declined in the current year, suicide by even a single farmer was tragic and painful and his government would like to create a Punjab where no farmer is forced to end his life.Capt. Amarinder Singh said that real farm incomes had declined over the years and the union government had failed to fulfil its promise of “doubling the farmers' income” in its five years of rule. He said even the measures taken by the Centre now are inadequate and only a complete implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission can ensure proper increase in MSP.Expressing anguish at the Centre’s failure to provide any financial assistance to the State for debt relief to farmers, the Chief Minister also regretted that the union government had declined the state’s pleas for enhancement in its borrowing limit. He said that despite the acute financial mess that his government had inherited, his government had announced a loan waiver that would benefit 10.25 lakhs small and marginal farmers.He said it was shameful that while SAD-BJP did nothing to alleviate the debt stress of the farmers in their decade long tenure, they were now trying to become their Messiahs by unnecessarily politicising the issue and spreading canards. “They ruined the state's agriculture,” he said, adding that his government had already begun the process of disbursement of loan waiver and so far, 75,748 farmers had benefited, to the tune of Rs 329.55 crore.
The Chief Minister said that diversification had so far remained unsuccessful due to lack of adequate marketing support for alternative crops, and greater thrust by Government of India on production of food grains in Punjab. He said the Agriculture Department has now been advised to work out a comprehensive programme to increase area under horticulture crops, pulses and maize.The Chief Minister also pointed out that paddy and cotton production in the state had seen a six percent and nine percent increase respectively in the current fiscal. While the paddy production had gone up from 188.63 LMTS to 201.09 LMTs, cotton production had increased from 25.31 lakh qtl to 27.59 lakh qtl.The Chief Minister also informed the House that during the extremely successful procurements in 2017-18, farmers were paid Rs. 6696.24 crore more than the previous year. He said while wheat farmers realized 17.4 percent more remuneration, the increase in paddy was 13.8 percent. He said even basmati growers received 6 percent more remuneration over the previous year.The Chief Minister also informed the House that his government had liquidated pending liabilities of sugarcane growers and an amount of Rs.46 Crore had been released on March 26. He said in order to re-energize the State Sugar Mills on a sustainable basis, his government had set up a Group of Experts to suggest desirable policy changes, and Cooperative Sugar Mills at Bhogpur and Batala will be modernized soon.Punjab Government will launch a special campaign “Har Ghar Hariyali” in a bid to increase the green cover in the state. Announcing this in the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said that all households will be encouraged to plant native fruit and timber species, like jamun, desi mango, imli, etc.