‘Cruel & insulting joke with farmers’: Warring slams Rs 72 MPS hike for paddy

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Wednesday slammed the Centre over the Rs 72 hike in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, calling it a "cruel and insulting joke" with farmers. He said the prices of diesel, fertilisers, pesticides, labour and machinery had risen sharply, asking how such a marginal increase could compensate farmers for the steep rise in input costs.The PCC president said the govt should have taken rising inflation into account while fixing the MSP. Instead, he said, the inadequate increase would deepen distress among farmers and push more of them towards suicide.Warring said Punjabi farmers will suffer major losses, as Punjab is one of the main paddy-producing states in the country. "The BJP govt has increased paddy MSP by Rs 72, but a farmer's input costs have risen by hundreds and thousands per acre. What looks like relief on paper disappears before the crop is even harvested," he remarked, while reminding Prime Minister Modi of his promise of "doubling the farmers' income by 2019." MSID:: 131065638 413 |