CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops, ensuring that Punjab is properly represented.
Mann wrote to the Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, saying, "It is ironic that the state that has most successfully implemented MSP since its inception has been shut out of the committee." The Chief Minister stated that the Union government recently formed the MSP committee, which is chaired by former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal.
Mann said that this committee includes multiple specialists and top officials from several states, but none from Punjab.
Mann praised Prime minister Narendra Modi, saying that Punjab had played a critical role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains by contributing 35-40% of wheat and 25-30% of rice to the central pool during the last decade.
He said that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, 60-62 million tonnes of wheat and rice, most of which are produced by the state's hardworking farmers, are provided annually to about 800 million people in the country at heavily subsidised rates.
Mann went on to say that everyone is fully aware that these government assistance programmes for the poor are only feasible because of the enormous contribution of Punjab.
Good news for MP farmers, will get this big benefit
Bhagwant Mann discharged from hospital, admitted due to infection
