The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today described as "the cruelest joke of decade " the decision of GoI on a marginal and laughable increase in the MSP of Wheat by Rs. 50 per quintal for the Rabbi Marketing season 2013-14. Mr. Badal said that with this decision the Congress led UPA Government has added insult to the injury and rubbed salt in the wounds of the already beleaguered pleasantry of the country. Terming this negligible hike as 'woefully inadequate and unjustified', the chief minister demanded its re-fixation at Rs 1855 per quintal in accordance with the prevalent cost of the inputs in market.
In a statement here, Mr. Badal said that the decision was further proof of a cruel bias against the farmers in the minds of the policy makers. He said that the UPA Government would be remembered as the worst ever government in the history of country as far as farmers are concerned. He said that the latest decision defies all logic and economic common sense especially in the light of the inflammability of inflationary trend in the country. Lambasting the Union Government, Mr. Badal took strong exception to the decision of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs which announced an increase of Rs. 50 in the MSP of wheat thereby fixing it up to Rs. 1400 per quintal over the last year's MSP of 1350. Mr Badal termed this enhancement as a 'stabbing in the back' of the wheat producing farmers of the country particularly the Punjabi farmers who were already reeling under the heavy burden of whopping debt of Rs. 32000 crore. The Chief Minister said that the MSP of Rs 1400 per quintal on wheat as announced by Centre today even does not cover the cost of production on one hand and was much below the expectations of the farmers on the other. He said that the non-remunerative MSP coupled with anti-farmer policies of Centre was primarily responsible for the slow down of the agricultural growth. He said that his government had been constantly pleading the case of Punjab's distressed peasantry with GoI that was in shambles and demanded MSP of at least Rs.1855 per quintal of wheat from Centre.
The Chief Minister recalled the outstanding contribution of Punjabi farmers in making our country self reliant in the food production but at the same time it was pushing the country's pleasantry in a tight spot by arbitrarily fixing the MSP without caring for the basic ground realities prevailing in the agricultural sector. Assailing the UPA Government for penalizing the farmers, Mr Badal said it was providing food grains at cheaper rates to the consumers under the national food security act at the cost of producers who were being constantly denied their the rightful margins.